The Super Djata Band

Zani Diabaté
12" x 12"
oil on luan, 2012

I found Bimoko Magnin, a song from the LP The Super Djata Band de Bamako vol. 2 (1983) on ghostcapital, a blog that I follow. The LP was produced in Burkino Faso but the group is from Mali. Bimoko Magnin is the second song that came to the Top 100 courtesy of ghostcapital, and also the second African Pop gem from them in the list. Guitar player Zani Diabaté was the driving force behind the Super Djata Band, who were active throughout the 1980s.  He had been playing in various groups in Mali since1963 before forming the Super Djata Band in 1974 together with Maré Sanogo. Diabaté lived most of life near Bamako in Mali but died in Paris in 2011. 

Like the previous two paintings this week, this one of him is again done on top of a landscape depicting my back yard featuring a banana plant. Despite my best intentions the banana plant is again being obscured by the portrait.