Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in Kayes, Mali) is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Traoré first came to prominence in the early 1960s. He had taught himself to play guitar and developed a unique style that blended American blues music, Arab music, and pentatonic structures found in West Africa’s Mande cultural region. He was a superstar in Mali and a symbol of the newly independent country (see History of Mali). His songs were immensely popular and he enjoyed regular radio play. However, he made no recordings, and since there were no royalties paid to musicians, he was very poor and had to work odd jobs to make ends meet. See for more.