Sali Sidibé (1959-2019) was a Malian singer and songwriter. Born in a village in the Wassoulou region of southern Mali, Sali Sidibe sang in Bambara. With her gutsy, neo-traditional vocals set to a unique blend of didai, sigui, and sogonikun dance rhythms, Sali Sidibe is one of Mali’s greatest vocalists. Recording her first singles in the ’60s, she helped to lay the foundation for the Wassoulou music of the ’80s. Wassoulou is a genre of West African popular music named for the Wassoulou cultural area. Wassoulou music is performed mostly by women. Some recurring themes in the lyrics are childbearing, fertility, and polygamy. Instrumentation includes soku (a traditional fiddle sometimes replaced with modern imported instruments), djembe drum, kamalen n’goni (a six-stringed harp), karinyan (metal tube percussion) and bolon (a four-stringed harp). The vocals are often passionate and emphatic, and delivered in a call-and-response pattern. This is a reissue of a rare cassette from the ’80s.