Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classical, rock and various world music genres. He is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck has won 14 Grammy Awards and been nominated 33 times.
The Music of Mali is, like that of most African nations, ethnically diverse, but one influence predominates; that of the ancient Mali Empire of the Mandinka. Mande people make up 50% of the country's population, other ethnic groups include the Fula (17%), Gur-speakers 12%, Songhai people (6%), Tuareg and Moors (10%) and another 5%, including Europeans. Mali is divided into eight regions; Gao, Kayes, Koulikoro, Mopti, Ségou, Sikasso, Tombouctou and Bamako.
Tinariwen is a group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, but returned to Mali after a peace accord between 1990 and 1995. Considered a pioneer of desert blues, the group first started to gain a following outside the Sahara region in 2001 with the release of the album The Radio Tisdas Sessions, and with performances at Festival au Désert in Mali and the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.
Oumou Sangaré is a Grammy Award-winning Malian Wassoulou musician, sometimes referred to as "The Songbird of Wassoulou". Wassoulou is a historical region south of the Niger River, where the music descends from age-old traditional song, often accompanied by a calabash.
Toumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.
Corey Harris is an American blues and reggae musician, currently residing in Charlottesville, Virginia. Along with Keb' Mo' and Alvin Youngblood Hart, he raised the flag of acoustic guitar blues in the mid-1990s. He was featured on the 2003 PBS television mini-series, The Blues, in an episode directed by Martin Scorsese.
World Circuit is a British world-music record label, established in London in the mid-1980s, that specializes in Cuban and West African recording artists, among other international music stars. The label's founding principle was to be an artist-led company with all aspects of each release tailored to the artist. This continues to be the label's way of working. World Circuit celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2006 by releasing World Circuit Presents..., a 2-disc retrospective compilation album. In 2018, World Circuit was acquired by BMG Rights Management.
Moussa Kouyate is a kora player from Bamako, Mali. His father, Batourou Sekou Kouyate, was also a prominent kora player.
The ngoni is a string instrument, traditional guitar of Mali. 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.
Lucy Durán is a British ethnomusicologist, record producer and radio presenter. In the 1980s, Durán worked as a curator at the British Library National Sound Archive. She joined SOAS University of London in 1993, and is Professor of Music with special reference to Africa and Cuba, in the School of Arts. She is the daughter of Spanish composer and civil war veteran Gustavo Durán and the sister of poet Jane Duran and author Cheli Duran.
Mamadou Diabaté is a Malian musician known for his work with the kora. He began playing quite early in his life, became known as a musician in the area of Mali in which he lived, and has since moved to the United States, recording several albums.
Welcome to Mali is the fifth studio album by Malian musicians Amadou & Mariam. It was released on Because Music on November 17, 2008, in Europe and was released on Nonesuch Records on March 24, 2009, in the United States.
Kulanjan is a 1999 album by blues artist Taj Mahal and Malian kora-player Toumani Diabaté.
Cheick Hamala Diabate is a musician from Mali, West Africa, who has been nominated for a Grammy award. Using Adelphi, Maryland, as his home he travels all over the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the United States Senate, and the Smithsonian Institution. Cheick Hamala was born into a griot family in Kita, Mali. From a young age, he learned to play the ngoni, a stringed instrument related to the American banjo. In addition, Cheick has learned the history of Mali passed down for over 800 years. Cheick has performed internationally.
Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music blends traditional Malian music and its derivative, North American blues and is considered a pioneer of African desert blues. Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 37 on Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Oran Etkin is a jazz and world music musician.
Matthew Hubbard is an American musician best known for his work with Willie Nelson and with the band 7 Walkers.
AfroCubism is a Grammy-nominated album featuring musical collaborations between musicians from Mali and Cuba. It was released in 2010.
Simon Katz is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with the band Jamiroquai from 1995 to 2000. Katz was a recipient of the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocal for Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" in 1997, and the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection with Jamiroquai in 1999.
Kortney Jamaal Pollard, who performs under the stage name Mali Music, is an American recording artist, singer-songwriter and producer. His two independently released albums, The Coming (2008) and The 2econd Coming (2009), earned him much critical and underground acclaim. In 2011, he was the first inspirational artist to be a part of BET's acclaimed "Music Matters" series. Signed to RCA Records in 2013, Mali released the single "Beautiful" in anticipation of his first major album release Mali Is..., which was released on June 17, 2014 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album.
