" data-original-title="" title="">Fatoumata Diawara was a featured performer at the Journey into Afrofuturism Festival, organized by Carnegie Hall on Friday, March 4. It is a (NY) city-wide festival "where music, visual arts, science fiction, and technology intersect to imagine alternate realities and a liberated future viewed through the lens of Black cultures." Chimurenga Renaissance, a Zimbabwean-centered hip-hop collective, kicked off a great evening of music at a sold-out Zankel Hall, the second of Carnegie Hall's three-concert venues with a seating capacity of 600. Diawara was born in the C?te d'Ivoire to Malian parents, raised in Mali, and moved to France at 19, where she continues to reside. Mali is a West African country with a remarkable cultural history and is home to some of the world's greatest music recorded over the last 25 years. Sadly, it is also a war-torn country for more than a decade. The northern part of the country was overrun by radical Islamist rebels who banned music in that territory, causing an exodus or relocation of many musicians. Diawara is one of four featured artists in the excellent documentary Mali Blues (Icarus Films, 2017), which celebrates Mali's proud and enduring traditions amidst all the strife. One of the narratives recounts Diawara's triumphant return to Mali after a lengthy period of performing her first ever concert in her native country. She had released two exceptional albums prior to the concert, and a third one, Maliba (Google Arts and Culture), in March 2022. Diawara has collaborated with many artists in the rock, jazz, and African music world, including