Abdoulaye Alhassane was born in 1963 in Niamey (Niger) to a Sonrai family from Gao (Mali). He is a superb multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and producer.…
Artist Profiles: Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure
Category: Artist Profiles
Artist Profiles: Malouma
Malouma Mint Moktar Ould Meidah was born in the 1960s in Mederdra (Traiza), into a family of griots (singers who work as oral historians). Her…
Artist Profiles: Daby Touré
Daby Toure had a rural upbringing in Mauritania, but this first solo album betrays his Senegalese family roots. After touring in support of Peter Gabriel’s…
Malian Kora Maestro Toumani Diabate
Toumani Diabate was one of the most brilliant players of the kora (a 21-string harp-lute from West Africa). He was born in 1965 in Bamako…
Artist Profiles: Mamadou Sidibe
Mamadou Sidibe was the first person to change the traditional Malian instrument the doso ngoni, to the now popular kamele ngoni. He changed the number…
Artist Profiles: Mamadou Diabate (kora)
Mamadou Diabaté was born in 1975 in Kita, a Malian city long known as a center for the arts and culture of the Manding people…
Artist Profiles: Madou Sidiki Diabate
Madou Sidiki Diabate presents a night of traditional West African music that dates back centuries. While relatives – his famous older brother Toumani Diabate and…
Artist Profiles: Fode Lassana Diabaté
Fode Lassana Diabaté was born in Conakry, Guinea, in 1971 into a family of virtuoso bala (balaphone) players, Lassana Diabaté has been playing the bala…
Artist Profiles: Khaira Arby
Khaira Arby, also known as the Nightingale of the North, was born in the village of Abaradjou in the Sahara Desert north of Timbuktu (Mali).…
Artist Profiles: Balla Kouyate
Nicknamed Balafon Mania, Balla Kouyaté is considered to be among the greatest bala (balaphone or balafon) players in the world today. A virtuoso, he plays…