How did you end up working with Damon Albarn and K’naan?
AB: We met Damon through his music festival, Africa Express, when we played the first year in Bamako. He likes Malian music very much, so we did many things together in England, and in Kinshasa. When we wanted to record the new album, we called him, and he came. He played on “Ce n’est pas bon,” and afterwards he wanted to take things a little further. He brought in a piece of music, and Mariam brought in the lyrics, and that song is called “Sabali.” We met K’naan in England as well. We played in the same hall together. So from then, we got to know each other. We found there was a link between his music and ours, and we invited him to our festival, Paris-Bamako. We also did Africa Express with him. So when we wrote the song, “Africa,” it made sense to invite him to sing on it as well. AVC: “Sabali” begins Welcome to Mali with a clever bait and switch. It starts off with what sounds like an old field recording of African singing, and then it switches abruptly to synthesizer chords and Ma
