The band name is derived from a play on words drawn from an expression in Bambara, the most common language in Mali, « funteni bé bi», which means “it is hot today”.

Funteni Baby‘s music is a unique blend of western rock influences surfing on an African groove. It is a mixture of Mandingue percussion, electric guitar, bass and singing in various African and European languages.

​Funteni Baby started with the meeting between the Scottish guitarist and singer Mark Mulholland and Cheicknè Sissoko, a Malian percussionist who built himself a drumkit made of 5 tamans (traditional Malian drums). When Cheicknè invited Mark to join him for a concert in Bamako, there was an immediate musical connection between them and fusion of the different cultures inspired the two of them to start work together the day after the gig. As the project evolved, they invited the Gabonese singer Pamela Badjogo and the Malian bass player Fakourou Kanouté to join the band. In a few months of working on new material, they put together a repertoire of original songs based on rock, ska, blues and mandingue influences.