“Maybe if Sade, Joni Mitchell and Miriam Makeba were writing songs together.” This is how Mariama describes her sound. “LTDA” is the first single from her upcoming EP The Mo(u)rning Star. The song is an ode to community, queer and femme friendship and to love as an action – shoutout to bell hooks. In that spirit, the singer and founder of the Berlin-based fem*ergy collective supporting femme artists, teamed up with five other artists for the joyful Afro-fusion track: Johanna Amelie, Ay Wing, Mya Audrey, J-JD, and Sonic Interventions member, Astan KA.

OFFKEY: The title “LTDA” from your upcoming EP The Mo(u)rning Star draws on Françoise Hardy’s “Le Temps de l’Amour.“ Why did that song inspire you?

Mariama: “Le Temps de l’Amour” has a melody I really like, because it feels light and melancholic at the same time. The lyrics “c’est le temps de l’amour, le temps des copains et de l’aventure, quand le temps va et vient on ne pense à rien, malgré ces blessures…” mean “this is the time of love, the time of friendship and adventure, when this time comes and goes one doesn’t think of anything, despite all the wounds”. It feels like summer to me and that chorus, when it starts playing in my head it will live there for a while.

The idea was to take that vibe, but make it a love song for friendship, community, chosen family and femme solidarity.

We originally started it with the fem*ergy collective. Johanna Amelie and Ay Wing contributed to writing the verses and Mya Audrey did the arrangement and production, except for the drums that were added later by J-JD. We’ve been meaning to cover Françoise Hardy’s chorus, but after she died it was impossible to clear the rights. So, we wrote something entirely different with Astan KA and I love the chorus we have now. We invited Astan as a feature and I think her French rap part is just fire! I see Astan firstly as a beautiful human being inside out and as an artist who’s really shaping Berlin’s underground culture in many ways as a performer and creative, with her afrofuturistic expression and creating her own genre “Gangsta Jazz”, musically.

In the chorus you incorporate words in Wolof and Swahili. What do they mean in the context of the song? 

The Wolof expression “Nio Far”, the word “Wontanara” in Sousou and “Pamoja” in Swahli all mean togetherness, unity or we are together.  Similar to the more commonly known Zulu word Ubuntu these are expressions of a commitment to community, compassion, and respect for others, understanding that we exist in this web of relations and when we show up for each other, nobody has to do life alone. I wanted to celebrate this mentality and how it is being expressed across the African Continent in different cultures and languages.

Love is An Action

“LTDA” celebrates femme friendship and community. What role do both of those things play in your life and your work as an artist? 

It’s everything to me. Seeking out spaces that are build on femme and queer solidarity has changed how I feel in the music industry. Of course you can find interpersonal conflict everywhere, but overall it’s more fun, more cooperative and also safer. It has allowed me to grow artistically and to carry that confidence into other spaces as well. Community that supports us in being ourselves and becoming ourselves is so vital. I think it’s also important to have that outside of from music and I have always been lucky to find that whether in Paris or Berlin. I am very grateful for it.

What does loving someone mean to you? 

Ahaa, that’s a big question. I believe in what bell hooks said: Love is an action never simply a feeling. You love people in the way you act. It’s a deliberate choice rather than a passive, uncontrollable, fleeting feeling. To me it’s also a commitment to learning and growing through what another reflects back to you. It’s sharing and creating moments and worlds together.

And I think true love has your back, it is life affirming, kind, uplifting, definitely challenging, but always safe.

“LTDA” by Mariama and Astan KA is out now. Follow Mariama and Astan KA on instagram and stay tuned for Mariama’s upcoming EP The Mo(u)rning Star.