Born on Guadaloupe, raised in Canada and blessed with a lovely voice and great features, FM Laeti walked in my life thanks to Dutch Radio6-dj Jaap Boots. When he mentioned she duetted with the new African goddess Fatoumata Diawara, I was sold! The duet, Coco, is a French-Westindian-Malinese culture clash, that works very, very well! Like a cool wind on a hot summer’s day. FM Laeti (the FM is a tribute to the radiowaves, and to ‘different moods’) grew up in a very musical family: ‘My father is a drummer, my step father a classical pianist and my mother an avid music lover. I grew up in quite different places, met a lot of different people, but there was always a lot of music. At home it went from world music, to jazz, to soul and old R&B to classical. With my friends we were always thirsty for new or old musical discoveries from rap, to rock , to folk etc…’, she says in this interview. The rest of her album is all English. Soulful, but not as surprising as this duet. Hope to hear more of that in the future.
FM Laeti & Fatoumata Diawara – Coco