AMKOULLEL, RAPPER
“Poverty is the bed of corruption”

"Surafin"! It rings you a bell. If not, let us tell you that it is the generic title of the first and second album of d’Issiaka Bâ. A stranger? Certainly not as he’s a very handsome rapper who has a huge success in the circle of the trendy girls and is called by the nickname: Amkoullel! The Peuhl (ethnical group) child is back with a new album. It has ten tracks and is more engaged than "In faculté", the first album of the strange destiny of this young man qualified in laws. This album should be available on next September 4th but before this date, the rapper is giving us his thoughts.

Interview

- Le Mag: What do you mean by "Surafin"?
Amkoullel: "Surafin" means bride! The struggle against corruption is topical. Every body speaks about it but nobody attacks directly the roots of the scourge: Poverty. A family leader who doesn’t manage to secure his social duties will easily succumb to corruption. He won’t hesitate on the means to feed, heal and dress his family and also send his children to school. School is becoming more expensive and so is not accessible for the poorer. So when one is leaving in utter destitution, it’s very difficult for him to resist to temptation how dishonest or devilish it can be.

-What is in your opinion the best way to fight against corruption?
I’m not pretending to propose a miraculous solution against the scourge, but I’m sure that a fall in the prices of the essentials would be a decisive step against the phenomena. Everybody should have the possibility to eat it fill. School and health should be free for everybody. Electricity and drinkable water shouldn’t be a luxury for the citizen anymore. Unfortunately, all this things are excessively expensive in Mali. I’m not the first to say it, the Tata Pound have already drawn the attention of the deciders on this reality.

ATT (Mali President) is working on it since he’s back in power, isn’t he?
I’m not contesting it. But we still don’t see the impact of this political will on the daily life. The difficulties are still here. It’s as if life is becoming more and more difficult. Maybe some day we’ll see the effects of this engagement but at this rate, very few people will survive to take advantage of it. One must survive today to see tomorrow but it’s more and more difficult here in Mali.

- Surafin ! It translate the revolt of an artist…more and more engaged. What is your motivation?
It’s a natural motivation. In my daily life, I’m sincere and militant. So it’s a way of living that I’ve transposed to my art. In my opinion, Rap is a full art that one should practice with sincerity in order to communicate with the other in the best way. To exercise art, one must be engaged to express his socio-political opinions and convictions.

What can be the result of such an engagement?
The finality is to wake up the consciousnesses, to contribute in my way at the changing of the mentalities. If even only one person manages to change his behaviour because of my songs, I would be glad because it will be a winning for the society and the nation. It’s the aim of the operation. The rapper leads a public awareness campaign like the teacher, the journalist, the opinion leader, etc…

- Amkoullel, King Lassy Massasy, Tata Pound … rap is more and more vitriolic messages. Have you the feeling that the youth whose role is to take up the torch is following you?
For the time being, it is difficult to measure the impact of our engagement. But sometimes, when people stop you in the street and recite you all texts and ask you to give further more explication so they can understand your messages, you think that you have not far of the aim. It shows that there’s already a change in the mentalities. So it’s a step in the way of the changing of the behaviours. That is the hope.

What do you expect from Surafin?
I hope it will be a huge success so I could release a third album. I hope that it will contribute to draw the leader’s attention, to awaken the citizens’ consciousnesses on the necessity to struggle against poverty by working, the renewal and concrete initiatives in order to fight corruption.

There is a lot of featuring (Diata Sya, Tata Pound, Déné Issébéré, Doudou Soul, Philo, Michelle Traoré et Diop) on this album. What guided you in this?
At the beginning, I wanted to compose a special edition album. This is why I invited friends to record at least half of the album. But finally, I decided to make of Surafin my second album because of technical and strategic considerations. I wanted to work with friends above all and I managed to do it, it is the essential.

So we can expect to see you making duet with young artist such as Rokia Traoré, Ramata Diakité, Mamou Sidibé, Mariétou Diabaté…?
Of course! I’ve already discussed with Amy Sacko, Ramata Diakité and Doussou Bagayoko about working together on an album. I wanted to invite Doussou on Surafin but I already had lot of friends around me. So I began with Déné Issébéré, Michelle Traoré (Late Falaba Issa Traoré’s daughter)…I will continue the experience with other artist out of the rap circle.

-Has Infaculté, your first album, matched your expectations?
I’m satisfied of it. It matched my ambitions. I wasn’t known enough by the public. The music lovers bought it listened to it and appreciated it. They were certainly waiting for my second album. InFaculté allowed me to heave myself up into the Malian hip hop high society.

Piracy has ruined lot of artistic career in Mali. What do the young artists can do against this scourge?
The best arm is the public awareness campaign. Only the change in the population behaviour can eradicate the scourge. People must understand that it is a paradox to say that you love an artist and help his enemies to ruin his life that buying piracy work is to kill his idol, impeach him to continue and to live on his hard work. I’m sure that when Malians will understand that, very few people will buy piracy work and it will stop by itself because of the lack of clients.

Future projects?
On September 5th, there will be a concert for the release of the album (September 4th). It will be at the hotel Baobab at 21 (entry: 1.000 F CFA = 1,52 €). All the rapper of Bamako will be there and it’s my last concert for this year because I’m returning to France to study to become sound engineer. It’ll take one year.

Something to add to end the interview?
I’m reminding one more time to the Malian that the best way to show to his favourite artist that you love him is to buy legal work now easily distinguishable thanks to stickers. This is the only way to help us to make a living on our art and fight against piracy. Let‘s everybody buy Surafin because it’s the best album of the year.

Interview by King Moseto