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%).
A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician.
Fatou is the debut album from Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara. Uncut placed the album at number 34 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011", The Sunday Times named it number 1 world music album in the 2011 end of year polls and WMCE voted it 2011 album of the year.
Ba Cissoko is a Guinean world music band featuring five members, two of whom play the traditional Kora harp. Two band members play percussion instruments and one plays bass. The sound of the band has been described as "West Africa meets Jimi Hendrix".
Moussa Kouyate is a kora player from Bamako, Mali. His father, Batourou Sekou Kouyate, was also a prominent kora player.
Songhai is a fusion flamenco album by Spanish band Ketama, working in collaboration with Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté and other musicians.
Articles related to Mali include:
The ngoni is a traditional West African string instrument. Its body is made of wood or calabash with dried animal skin head stretched over it. The ngoni, which can produce fast melodies, appears to be closely related to the akonting and the xalam. This is called a jeli ngoni as it is played by griots at celebrations and special occasions in traditional songs called fasas in Mandingo. Another larger type, believed to have originated among the donso is called the donso ngoni. This is still largely reserved for ceremonial purposes. The donso ngoni, or "hunter's harp," has six strings. It is often accompanies singing along with the karagnan, a serrated metal tube scraped with a metal stick. The donso ngoni was mentioned by Richard Jobson in the 1620s, describing it as the most commonly used instrument in the Gambia. He described it as an instrument with a great gourd for a belly at the bottom of a long neck with six strings.
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.
Abdoulaye Diabaté is a singer and guitarist who was born to a griot family in Kela, Mali in 1956. He has at least twenty years of experience in contemporary and popular music.
Djeli Moussa Diawara is a kora player (Korafola), composer and singer.
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.
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.
Kevin Brown is an English blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. His main genre is the blues, although he has spread out his style to incorporate country, folk, Americana and world music over an almost forty-year professional career. He has released twelve albums to date, which included collaborations with Moussa Kouyate and Gary Rudd. Performing from the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival to the bars of Texas, Mark Knopfler stated that Brown "offers far more than your average slide player".
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.
Abdoulaye Diabaté was a Senegalese jazz pianist.
