Going back and forth between Western Arabic and African countries clearly created the various musical backgrounds I could have and obviously influenced my professional attitude, my way of approaching both music composition and singing, particularly phrasing.

We need self-confidence in our ability to build Africa. I trust in Mali and I trust in music.

I prefer simple things - monotone melodies repeating the same things all the time. Because I think life is like that.

I'm in a state of my life when the essential is very important to me. I don't like long songs with complicated arrangements and breaks anymore.

I don't know if it's due to my age, that I'm older now, [but] I love the essentials. I don't like the things around us that are a kind of mirage.

We're repeating the same things all the time; there aren't many new things happening in this life.

When you have a chance to be an artist with an audience in your lifetime, you have to say thanks to your audience. That's a great thing. That's the best thing that can happen to an artist.

In general, in painting sometimes people like Picasso or somebody are not very well known in the beginning, sometimes they become well known just before they die, or sometimes after they have died. I think these people start to be artists after they've stopped existing.

Without an audience, all your dreams will not come true at all, because you need an audience to write new songs and continue to do music.

Sometimes there are painters or very famous artists who start to become artists after they are dead because an audience or a public know about their art after they die.