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Djeli Moussa Diawara | |
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| Born | February 1962 (age 62) Kankan, Guinea |
| Genres | Mandingo, salsa, flamenco, blues, jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Kora, guitar, balafon |
| Labels | CybearSonic |
Djeli Moussa Diawara, born 1962 in Kankan, Guinea, is a Kora player (Korafola), composer and singer.
Djeli Moussa Diawara (also spelled as Jali Musa Jawara) was born to a Griot family. His father was a balafon player, and his mother a singer. [1] His half-brother, sharing the same mother, was Mory Kanté. He is a "jali," or "djeli", a Mandinka word for griot. He learnt to play the balafon, the kora and the guitar.[ citation needed ]
At 18 he played with his half-brother, who left the Rail Band, in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Starting his solo career, he worked with Djenne Doumbia, a singer who later joined Salif Keita's group.[ citation needed ]
In 1983, his first LP Yasimika was recorded and published in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivorie. It was then re-released in Europe on various record and was positively reviewed, particularly in France and the United Kingdom. [1]
His Flamenkora album was published in 1998, offering a rich blend of styles, from his Mandingo roots to Flamenco.
In 2000, Djeli Moussa recorded the album Ocean Blues – from Africa to Hawaï with Bob Brozman. The album, which was recorded in single day in Santa Cruz, combined the styles of West African music and Hawaiian music. [2] The album received good reviews.
Since then, he founded Kora Jazz Trio, joined by Abdoulaye Diabaté (sénégal) (piano) and Moussa Cissoko (drums). Djeli Moussa composed most of the tracks, particularly those on which he sings, and he played the kora and sometimes the guitar on the three albums released so far (Part I, II, & III).
Diawara left the Kora Jazz Tio in 2010. [1]
Singer and musician, Djeli Moussa developed an intimate relationship with his 32-stringed Kora, which is unique and was adapted at his request from the 21-stringed traditional Kora. He is able to adapt to many different rhythms, from traditional mandingo to salsa, flamenco, blues and jazz.[ citation needed ]
He has worked with many artists, including Ali Farka Touré, Carlos Santana, Manu Dibango, Janice deRosa, Stephan Eicher, and Cheick Tidiane Seck.[ citation needed ]
The kora is a stringed instrument used extensively in West Africa. A kora typically has 21 strings, which are played by plucking with the fingers. It has features of the lute and harp.
The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Bwaba Bobo, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now found across West Africa from Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali. Its common name, balafon, is likely a European coinage combining its Mandinka name ߓߟߊ bala with the word ߝߐ߲ fôn 'to speak' or the Greek root phono.
The music of Mali is, like that of most West African nations, ethnically diverse, but one influence predominates: that of the ancient Mali Empire of the Mandinka. Mande people make up around 50% of Mali's population; other ethnic groups include the Fula (17%), Gur-speakers 12%, Songhai people (6%), Tuareg and Moors (10%).
The music of Burkina Faso includes the folk music of 60 different ethnic groups. The Mossi people, centrally located around the capital, Ouagadougou, account for 40% of the population while, to the south, Gurunsi, Gurma, Dagaaba and Lobi populations, speaking Gur languages closely related to the Mossi language, extend into the coastal states. In the north and east the Fulani of the Sahel preponderate, while in the south and west the Mande languages are common; Samo, Bissa, Bobo, Senufo and Marka. Burkinabé traditional music has continued to thrive and musical output remains quite diverse. Popular music is mostly in French: Burkina Faso has yet to produce a major pan-African success.
A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician.
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, The Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.
Alhaji Bai Konte (1920–1983) was a jali from Brikama, Gambia. His grandfather, Jali Ndaba Konteh, was a Konting player who originally brought his family to Brikama from the Kankaba region of Mali. Bai Konte's father, Burama Konte, was also a celebrated kora player and composed several important pieces in the repertoire. Burama Konte, composed the anthem of the 19th century Senegambian hero Mansumaneh Yundum, Yundum N'ko. It was from that piece that the anthems of Sheriff Sidi Hydara and Nyansu Mbasse originated. Burama Konteh was a well-known kora player of his generation. Bai Konte was a regular on Radio Gambia and Radio Senegal's joint program called Chossani Senegambia in the 1970s. He and other griots such as Jali Nyama Suso and Alhaji Abdoulaye Samba used to play live music during the show. Bai Konteh had narrated many epics on that show including the epic of King Abdou Njie and his griot and advisor Ibra Faye. Prominent broadcasters of that show included Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof, Alhaji Assan Njie and Alhaji Mansour Njie.
Foday Musa Suso is a Gambian musician and composer. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a griot. Griots are the oral historians and musicians of the Mandingo people who live in several west African nations. Griots are a living library for the community providing history, entertainment, and wisdom while playing and singing their songs. It is an extensive verbal and musical heritage that can only be passed down within a griot family.
Bob Brozman was an American guitarist and ethnomusicologist.
Richard Bona is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer.
Baba Sissoko is a Malian percussionist.
Mah Damba is a traditional griot singer. She comes from a family of griots: her father, Djeli Baba Sissoko, was a griot and her aunt, Fanta Damba, is also considered a top vocalist.
Dembo Konte(or Konté) and Kausu Kuyateh were master kora players from West Africa. They were also singers and, above all, jalis; storytellers and guardians of oral tradition, preserving the history of people and events via their music. Stories and history are passed down from generation to generation by this method within families and groups of friends, ensuring survival of such stories for centuries. The jali sings the praises of his friends and benefactors, warns the politicians of their errors and admonishes the listeners to live right. Their music encapsulates the Mandinka culture.
Kimi Djabaté is a Bissau-Guinean Afro-beat/blues musician, based out of Lisbon, Portugal.
African Journey: A Search for the Roots is a blues album by an American historian Samuel Charters and an attempt to trace the roots and influences of American blues from the 1920s and 1930s back to the tribal music of West Africa. He draws connections and similarities through song content and instrument type and usage. In 1974 he traveled the length of the crescent from Senegal to Nigeria. He then returned to travel up the Gambia River to a slave pen at Jang Jang Bure. His travel path emulated the paths of slave traders. All the musical performances were recorded by means of a tape recorder. The album was released as a double vinyl set. Volume One contains songs performed by historians as well as celebratory songs from The Gambia, Senegal, and Mali. Volume Two consists of funeral processions, dances, and songs from Ghana, Togo and The Gambia.
Yasimika is the first studio album by Djeli Moussa Diawara, Guinean Kora player (Korafola), released in 1983.
Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté is a prominent Mandé kora player and jeli from Bamako, Mali. He is the 71st generation of kora players in his family and a son to Sidiki Diabaté.
Kora Jazz Trio is a three piece African musical group, founded in 2002 by Djeli Moussa Diawara, Guinean Korafola, with Abdoulaye Diabate and Moussa Sissokho, best known for producing a music that is a mix of American jazz with traditional African music. Described as "the encounter between mandinga musical tradition and the freedom of jazz, between West African percussion and Afro-American swing", they have been recognized for their focus on sharing their cultural heritage, without doing so for the sake of mainstream success or in an effort to create a movement.
Red Earth is a 2007 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater. It carries the subtitle "A Malian Journey" to celebrate and explore her African and Malian ancestry. The album brought her the seventh nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards. On Billboard's Top Jazz Album chart it reached Number 16.
Kassé Mady Diabaté was a Malian singer, musician and griot. His soft and particular voice with deep undertones – an atypical characteristic for a griot – earned him the nickname "The golden voice of Mali". He is considered, together with Salif Keita, as one of the greatest Mandinka artists of his generation.
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