Musiques d'Afrique:
Bassekou Kouyaté
(Mali)
Musiques du Mali
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Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Bassekou Kouyaté (Mali) |
Musiques d'Afrique Musiques du Mali |
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Bassekou Kouyaté is seen as the world's best n'goni player. Born in the second half
of the 1960s, he grew up in a traditional family of musicians, his mother Yagaré Damba was a praise singer, his
father Moustapha Kouyaté and his brothers were n'goni players. When he was 12 years old, he was already
mastering the n'goni lute, and in 1979, when his father was ill, Bassekou accompanied his mother on n'goni during her tour
in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. From 1983, he worked with guitar player and
Nainy Diabaté's husband
Cheick Oumar Diabaté. Together, they accompanied besides Nainy other singers such as
Tata Bambo Kouyaté. In 1987, he met Toumani Diabaté
with whom he recorded on two albums and toured extensively in West Africa, and performed on the Dranouter Folk Festival
in Belgium.
After a Banjo Festival in Tenessee, Bassekou got acquainted with Taj Mahal with whom he recorded together. His name was rising and increasingly he is invited to play with numerous artists, in Mali, such as with Keletigui Diabaté, Ali Farka Touré, Cheick Tidiane Seck, but also on a international level: Bassekou has played and/or recorded with Carlos Santana, Jackson Brown, Bonnie Raitt... In 2003, he created his own group, Samagéra, together with his wife Amy Sacko, balafon player Lassana Diabaté, Adama Diarra (djembé) and Fousseyni Kouyaté (bass n'goni). He performed in Holland and Belgium in 2005. With his current band, now renamed in Ngoni ba, he recorded a long awaited first album, " ... Never really breaking into a sweat, in fact barely shifting his gentle grin for a moment, he will break out these terrifyingly complex solos somehow conjuring notes from God knows where. The ngoni he plays only has three strings, how he does what he does remains a total mystery." Damian Rafferty Editor and Publisher of Fly | Global Music Culture [external link] Some musicians on the Segu Blue album: Bassekou Kouyaté ngoni Lassana Diabaté balafon Amy Sacko vocals Sources: www.myspace.com/bassekoukouyate [external link] www.outhere.de [external link] www.mali-music.com [external link] |
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| Title | Year | Label | Remarks | |
| I Speak Fula | 2009 | out here records OH 013-CD | CD | To be released late September |
| Segu Blue | 2007 | out here records OH 07-CD | CD |
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