From love to passion

Born in Bamako at the beginning of the eighties, Déné is the unic child of Hamadoun Ibrahima Issébéré (poet) and Diahara Tangara (actress). Four months after her birth, her mother and her joined her father who was a Malian diplomat in Algeria. Country where she would stay until her fourteens. Unable to understand Arabic language, Déné used to spend her leisure time watching french and american musical programmes and had a whale of a time singing the songs she saw on TV and the ones her mother taught her. First, people used to say: "Déné! Shut up!" (we have to point out that Déné used to sing even during the class ... incredible, isn't it ?) and then it was "Déné! Sing something! ".

With her frail and smooth voice, Déné loved to sing anytime and anywhere she had the opportunity ... Her friends used to tell her: "you should become become a singer!" an unrealizable dream in her mind at that time. . . Her father, noticing her love for music, used to give her musical instruments (xylophone, accordion, guitar, piano ...) as presents to encourage her even if our Déné has never studied music and, recorded any musical programmes he could.

In 1994, she returned in Bamako with her parents and went to the French school "Liberté A" of Bamako.
Quickly she is noticed during the parties organized by her school, and then, she didn't hesitate any more to take part in the underground concerts commonly called "Rap concerts" .Déné was alone and the public was astonished to see a girl on stage in Bamako singing something else than Folklore.

After trying several other female singers without success, the band "King Da Dja" (a production of Salif Keïta) appealed to Déné for the recording of their Album "Tougna". Charmed by the melodious voice of our starlet, Eric Bono, Salif Keïta's sound engineer, called her for several other Albums including the Malian version of the World Cup Hymn of Youssou N'Dour, with the participation of Rokia Traoré and Afel Bocoum.

Unfortunately, the experience didn't last long because Eric Bono broke off with Salif Keita and went back to Paris with all his projects of production and none of them had ever seen the day. Dogons, in Mali, are well-known for their courage and bravery.
Déné, their heiress , didn't give up and, again, a band, the "Escrocs" appealed to her for their Album "Kokadjé" . Unlike the other young holders of "Baccalauréat" who wanted to pursue their studies in France, Déné decided to stay in Mali in order to sing and study at the same time.

Day by day, her talent was asserting itself and she recorded with Toumani Diabaté, "cora virtuoso", a single "Bikanou" as a second version and signed a contract of production with Mali Music. She took part in the new "Album of Issa Bagayogo" from january to june 2001" and accompanies him on stage.

This Album "Ogopo" recorded at the studio "Bogolan" by Yves Wernert, is an illustration of the multiples and various talents of our artist since Déné, for her first try, gave free rein to her inspirations and refused to adopt one precise musical style. "Ogopo" is a wonderful cocktail of eight tracks brilliantly arranged by Laurent Noah.

Déné, the budding star, hates hypocrisy, lies, infidelity, lateness and "faux rendez-vous".
Trust me, Déné is a safe bet of the music.
Words of Black J.