SINIMUSO crosses borders and creates futures. The music of this all-female group fusions Malian and Finnish music traditions. Finno-Ugric runosongs and old Kantele melodies meet with Sahara blues and groovy Bambara and Bobo beats. At the moment the group is working on their debut album, which is going to be released in Autumn 2024. The group was formed in 2022.
SINIMUSO brings together female musicians from different musical backgrounds in Mali as well as two Finnish musicians, Jenni Hanikka and Marjo Smolander. In September-October 2022 the group of women came together in Bamako to share their music and stories The band was given the name Sinimuso, “the women of the future” in Bambara.
Exchanges between different ethnic groups and intercultural collaboration are common in today’s Mali, but the position of female musicians is still weak. The main purpose of this musical project is to offer female musicians an opportunity to network and learn from one another. The artistic collaboration is based on the assumption that regardless of the cultural and other differences female musicians also have shared experiences of what it is like to work as a woman in a male-dominated industry.
The album was recorded in Bamako in the famous Studio Bogolan in February 2023. SINIMUSO performed in the Ogoubagna festival in Bamako. The album release tour will cover Nordic countries in October and November 2024.
- Kadidiatou Bah, vocals (Mali)
- Jenni Hanikka, wind instruments, vocals (Finland)
- Marieta Dembélé, drums (Mali)
- Bintou Koita, percussions, vocals (Mali)
- Marjo Smolander, kantele, vocals (Finland)
- Tima Maiga, guitar, vocals (Mali)
- Ouassa Sogoba, bala, vocals (Mali)
Jenni Hanikka, jenni.hanikka(a)gmail.com, +358 40 768 5994
Marjo Smolander, marjosmolandermusic(a)gmail.com, +358 44 372 4982
sinimusomusic@gmail.com