3/20/2019, 6 a.m
Her modern African music and political activism has led to her being called Africa’s Future Queen. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara stops in Portland Friday for a 9 p.m. show at the Star Theater with special guests Outer Orbit and Portland’s Saeeda Wright. Boldly experimental yet respectful of her Malian roots, Fatoumata’s music defines her as a voice of young African womanhood – proud of her heritage but with a vision that looks confidently to the future. “Don’t sing just to sing,” she emphasizes, “sing to change things, to make things better.”