Sali Sidibe (1950 to 2019) was a Malian singer and composer. Salimata Sidibe was born in a village in the Wassoulou area of Mali in 1959. She began her career with a debut album called "El Nino Favorito de Wassolon" and, as an exponent of the ethnic Mandinka 'Bambara' style, truly represented her traditional region of origin. She was part of the Ensemble Instrumental Nacional de Mali in the 1980s, whose most popular hit in her home country was "Toukan Magni", a huge success there.
Her first album to sell internationally was "Wassoulou Foli", and over time Sidibe came to be considered one of the greatest voices to come out of Mali, with her neo-traditional sound blending into a unique mix of dance rhythms from 'didai', 'sigui' and 'sogonikun' styles. The instrumentation used for this included the 'soku' (a traditional Malian fiddle), the 'djembe' drum, the 'kamalen n'goni' (six-stringed harp), the 'karinyan' metal tube percussion and the 'bolon' (a four-stringed harp).
Her vocals tended to be passionate and emphatic, delivered in a call-and-response pattern, and some of the most prominent other artists of her style included Oumou Sangare, Coumba Sidibe, Dienaba Diakite, Kagbe Sidibe, Jah Youssouf and Fatoumata Diawara. Sidibe's first singles were recorded in the 1960s and helped lay the foundation for her follow-up music of the 1980s. As well as her aforementioned worldwide hit album "Wassoulou Foli" (1993), she also recorded a subsequent album accompanied by the 'London to Africa All Stars', called "Whirl-Y-Waves". Sali Sidibe died in Bamako on February 8th 2019, aged 59.
