Boubacar Traoré & Vincent Bucher - 6 - LIVE at Afrikafestival Hertme 2012

Performance - 8 July 2012
Popularly and affectionately known as Kar Kar, Boubacar Traoré is Mali's legendary blues guitarist. He has been in and out of the musical limelight a number of times in the last 40 years. His nickname came about because when he played soccer people called out 'Kari, Kari' meaning 'dribble, dribble'.
Kar Kar grew up in the 1940s in Kayes, part of the Bambara region of Mali. His musical influences at that time were kassonke, a local traditional style, and American blues. Also his brother went to Cuba to study music and on his return he helped Boubacar learn guitar. His style of guitar playing can actually be compared to the kora.
At the time of Mali's independence in the 1960s, Kar Kar's music was always on the radio first thing in the morning so he became a national figure. His greatest hits were 'Kar Kar Madison', 'Mali Twist' and 'Kayes Ba'. His compositions have great depth of feeling and cannot even be explained. As well as playing music, Kar Kar had some small businesses such as farming and tailoring to support his family. He stayed away from the active music scene for a number of years then in 1987 made a comeback when he performed on TV in Mali, much to the delight of his fans.
Tragedy came his way about 2 years later when his wife Pierette died. Wanting to start anew away from Mali, he decided to move to France and worked in the construction industry but he still played music in the evenings.

Vincent Bucher is one of the truly original harp players of the French scene. His early years as a musician were devoted to blues, playing alongside many French blues artists, but in recent years his musical approach has diverged into other styles, especially through collaborations with malagasy and african musicians. He has brought to these styles his increadible sound and an ever-present feeling.
Vincent Bucher started playing the harmonica around 16-17, via the Blues which remains my favourite music. Then I met Tao (Ravao) and we started playing in the street. I also met Sugar Blue at around the same time and he was the first to make me play on stage so I could get a bigger name. Then I progressively met other musicians, joined other groups and started to get into the club and live circuit.
All of that was playing Blues. I had become interested in other music through Blues just by listening to related genres which are similar, such as its African and Caribbean roots. For that, living in Paris was great; there were lots of musicians from different areas and I had the opportunity to join groups and play music other than Blues.