Djely Tapa - Dankoroba

Disques Nuits d’Afrique is extremely thrilled to announce the official release of Djely Tapa’s new single, Dankoroba (“Woman of Influence”), a tantalizing prelude to her upcoming album, which will be released this fall. With this lead single, the award-winning singer-songwriter propels Malian traditions into cosmic, Afrofuturistic and electronic dimensions.

Produced by Jean Massicotte (Patrick Watson, Lhasa de Sela, Arthur H) and recorded between Bamako and Montréal, Dankoroba’s accompanying music video is set in the stunning Malian landscape of Kita, a region steeped in spirituality. The song is a tribute to the legacy of the Sumusu, nine powerful women, including Djely Tapa’s ancestor Kiligna Mandé Kuyaté, who appear in the Epic of Sundiata, an oral Malinke tradition about the 13th century founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita.

Dankoroba expresses the timeless influence of these legendary women, delicately blending the traditional calabash and ngoni with hypnotic guitar arrangements and electronic rhythmic layers. Sisterhood, power, transmission, courage, intuition… Carried by the artist’s deep, powerful voice and the backing vocals of the Afrika Intshiyetu Choir, Dankoroba celebrates the power individuals have in bringing positive change to the world. In the face of the many societal and environmental challenges of the 21st century, Djely Tapa invites us to create a more enlightened world by taking inspiration from this African approach to expanding horizons without losing sight of ancestral roots.