Boubacar Traore

I just love Boubacar Traore's story. In the 60's he was the voice of Mali. He was on national radio, and everyone knew 'Kar Kar' and his voice (this is from allmusic.com). It didn't pay the bills so he became a tailor, shopkeeper, farmer, schoolteacher and agricultural agent. After his wife died in 1987 he moved to France and started playing music once again. His name started to grow on the World Music scene (I first heard his music on a"colors of the world" compilation). Now he is big. He began dividing his time between his home town of Bamako in Mali, where he slowly built a house with his own hands, and frequent tours around the world.

I think this guy is one of the best acoustic guitar players I have heard. The clip below is the song "Santa Maria" off his "Kar Kar" album. The pictures of Mali are nice. If you want to see his skill watch this 2001 live show, the video quality is not great but his guitar work - wow.