Mariama was born in Sierra Leone but raised in Germany. ‘Love, Sweat And Tears’ is her second album and is inspired by her travels throughout Europe and Africa as well as various recent professional and personal encounters. Part of an ongoing search for artistic freedom and independence, the record’s fourteen songs create one of the most beautiful sonic excursions into the Soul of global Folk and the electronic energy of modern R&B. 

The title is self-explanatory and delivers on all fronts. “It’s really all about love, sweat and tears,” explains Mariama. “The single ‘Raindrops’ belongs to the Tears part of the album. The song describes a state of confusion, loneliness, sadness, but in the midst of these dark feelings there is always a voice that speaks to us – pain also has its raison d’être. It can tell us what’s wrong with our lives and where we need change – provided we listen to it. If one manages to face unpleasant feelings without trying to stifle them

or run away, a crisis can become a new beginning. It takes rain so that the flowers can blossom again. Ultimately it all depends on our attitude. There is a quote that says: ‘Some people feel the rain – others just get wet’.”

Mariama is currently based in Paris and met most of the musicians who play on the album in the city, including drummer Georges Diémé (also a master of percussion instruments such as cajon, congas and udu), Abdoulaye Kouyaté (kora and guitar), Jean-Baptiste Soulard (keyboards and synthesizer), Wendy Milton (piano) and bassist Hilaire Penda (who has played on albums by Susheela Raman, Tony Allen, Salif Keita, Youssou N’dour and more). Additional contributing musicians include guitarist Sékou Bembeya (a living legend of Guinean musical heritage and also known as Diamond Fingers), Ballaké Sissoko (kora), Vincent Ségal (cello), German singer Soufian Tsunami (featured on the song ‘Never Mind’) and Berlin-based beatmaker and pianist Jim Dunloop, who worked on two songs.

More About Mariama

Mariama Jalloh was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1986 but grew up in Cologne, Germany. Her origins are symbolised by a passport filled with visas from all over the world: Guinea, France, Czech Republic, Norway, as well as Sierra Leone and Germany. Attracted to music from an early age, she sang in choirs, tried her hand, feet and voice at musical comedy and began composing songs on her mother’s guitar. Her first steps towards realising music as a profession came under the guidance of the Nigerian-German musician and activist Adé Bantu, who introduced her to the German scene via his projects Brothers Keepers, Afrobeat Academy and Afropean Express. Subsequently, she worked with the German rapper Curse and participated in the project ‘Diversidad – A European Urban Experience’, which was supported by the European Commission. In 2010, she signed with the French label Cinq7/ Wagram Music and began working on her debut album, ‘The Easy Way Out’, which was recorded at

RAK Studios in London with the production team Bacon & Quarmby (Ziggy Marley, Finley Quaye) and released in 2012.

Relocating to Paris, Mariama reverted to an intimate musical set up for a self-produced EP entitled ‘Moments Like These’, which was released in 2015 and received excellent reviews that led to tours in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Nigeria. At the end of that year, she was asked by the director, comedian and actor James Thierrée (co-star of ‘Chocolat’ and son of Charlie Chaplin) to be the voice of his theatre production ‘La Grenouille Avait Raison’ (The Frog Was Right). A subsequent sold-out tour culminated in its 100th performance celebrated with a show at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris in December 2016.

It was during this show’s residency in Switzerland that she recorded the song ‘Stone Cold’ with French rap collective Chinese Man, which was released in 2017 on their album ‘Shikantaza’. That same year, she began to work with sound engineer Manuel Schlindwein (Cody Chesnutt, Selah Sue, Akua Naru and Patrice), who is credited as the co-director of her new album.

Her new album Love, Sweat And Tears is out on 20/09/19