Led by her love for Manding tunes, Madina N’Diaye was the only Malian woman on stage accompanied by a kora, one of the most emblematic…
View More Artist Profiles: Madina N’DiayeTag: Malian music
Artist Profiles: Issa Bagayogo
Issa Bagayogo was known as “Techno Issa” in his homeland of Mali. He topped the charts in 2002 with Timbuktu, an album that spawned a…
View More Artist Profiles: Issa BagayogoArtist Profiles: Habib Koité
Habib Koité comes from a great line of Malian Khassonké jalis. He studied music for four years at the National Institute of Arts (NIA) in…
View More Artist Profiles: Habib KoitéArtist Profiles: Ballake Sissoko
The sound of Ballake Sissoko’s 21-string kora identifies him, along with Toumani Diabate, as one of the best kora players of a new generation of…
View More Artist Profiles: Ballake SissokoArtist Profiles: Boubacar Traoré
Boubacar Traoré was born in Kayes, in 1942, in the Bambara region of Mali. His nickname, Kar Kar was given to him when he was…
View More Artist Profiles: Boubacar TraoréArtist Profiles: Cheick-Tidiane Seck
Cheick-Tidiane Seck, keyboardist, composer, and performer of popular and traditional Malian music, is one of the most prolific, experienced, and perhaps even under-appreciated musicians from…
View More Artist Profiles: Cheick-Tidiane SeckArtist Profiles: Coumba Sidibe
Coumba Sidibe, whose first album was the highest-selling album in Africa for a female vocalist, was known the world over as the multi-titled Queen of…
View More Artist Profiles: Coumba SidibeArtist Profiles: Balla Tounkara
Balla Tounkara is a jeli (also known as griot by westerners) and master kora player from Mali, West Africa. He and his band, Groupe Spirit,…
View More Artist Profiles: Balla TounkaraArtist Profiles: Baba Sissoko
Baba Sissoko is a master of the talking drums (tamani). He is also a jali (griot) by birth. He has collaborated and recorded with Youssou…
View More Artist Profiles: Baba SissokoArtist Profiles: Assitan Mamani Keita
Born in Bamako of a Malinke father and Bambara mother, two of the 3 ethnic groups living in Mali, Assitan Mamani Keita was brought up…
View More Artist Profiles: Assitan Mamani Keita