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
"Infaculté", 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
