Modibo “Bastin” Diabate
Sanuya
“Sanuya”, written and performed by Modibo “Bastin” Diabate featuring Mah Bara Soumano and Konté B, arranged by Lamine Soumano, produced by Studio Mali, and filmed by Spencer Orey.
“Sanuya” is a song about about cleaning up the trash in Bamako that draws attention to trash and pollution in the city. It’s mostly in Bambara with some French, and it’s around six minutes long. Usually in Bamako I do my best to see through the pollution into the underlying beauty of the city, and trust me, there is a lot there that is beautiful. However, this time, I got to focus directly on trash and make things into a giant chaotic trash party, shooting all but one scene without my tripod while riding around on motorcycles with a big group of rappers in the Bamako neighborhood of Djicoroni Para. Unfortunately, it’s the hot season right now, so it’s nearly 115 degrees F every day, and the light is always incredibly strong, making filming especially difficult. However, with help, we found some dirty places to film: trash piles, burning trash piles, open sewers, meat markets, and more.
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Making The Video
Bastin
My latest project has been helping make a music video for a rapper named “Bastin”.
Two weeks ago, my guitar teacher introduced me to Modibo “Bastin” Diabate, who is trying to make his debut here in Bamako with his song “Sanuya” (which I should mention, was arranged by Lamine Soumano and produced by Studio Mali).
Bastin handed me a French translation of his lyrics, and we sat down to listen to his song. The next day, I filmed him in concert as part of a big hip-hop show organized in honor of an album debut for Malian megastar rapper Ramses Damarifa of the Mali’s #1 hip-hop group Tata Pound. The show was great, with the series of consistently-solid opening acts only exceeded by Ramses himself. However, the footage I managed to get while trying not to get trampled by the excited crowd wasn’t quite enough to stand on its own.
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