National French Week 2008

This year, we are planning to stress the importance of Francophone artists in the Global community by inviting the famous Griot troupe the Yakouba Sissoko Ensemble, featuring Yacouba Sissoko, kora; Abdoulaye Diabate, guitar; and Famoro Diabate, balafon.

Yacouba Sissoko is a Master Kora player from the Djely griot tradition. He was born in Kita, Mali. His grandfather, Samakoun Tounkara, began teaching Yacouba when he was 12 years old. Samakoun's wife Bintouba Diabate was a famous singer in her own right. They raised Yacouba and educated him in his griot heritage and in many lessons about life. Oumou Tounkara, his mother, was a star in the Ensemble National du Mali. Yacouba attended the Institut National des Arts du Mali in Bamako. After his graduation, he played with artists like Taye and Oumou Sacko, Haja Soumano, Djallou Demba, Ami Koita, Fantani Koure, Kandia Kouyate and l'Ensemble Instrumental du Mali.
In 1993, Souleymane Koli,the leader of the Ensemble Koteba of Abidjan recruited him. Yacouba spend the next 5 years performing all over the world with this 45-piece band. In his career, he has traveled to almost every nation on the African continent, as well as most of Europe, Canada, the US and Australia. He is in demand as one of the best kora players in the world, playing with jazz, Latin and R & B bands as well as traditional African ceremonies. As leader of his own band, Siya, and member of the group Super Mande, Yacouba continues to record with many famous musicians, including the groups Source, Tamalalou and Fula Flute.

Abdoulaye Diabaté was born in Kela, Mali, to the Diabaté family. Raised in the heart of the Mande tradition from a long line of dialys, Abdoulaye has also spent some twenty years performing contemporary and popular music. His musical career led him to a fusion of these styles. In 1973 he joined the Tenetemba Jazz in Bamako, Mali. Then, he was noted as the lead singer of the Koule Star Band of Kouchala. In 1975 he moved to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he formed his own twelve piece band, Super Mande. In this band some of the greatest luminaries of West African music circulated as bandmembers: Salif Keita, Mory Kante, Kante Manfila, Ousmane Kouyate and many more... In 1978, Super Mande released its first recording: Wahabia-Ke Daschi. The album was banned from airplay because the title song criticized some marabouts religious leaders. In 1992, Abdoulaye joined the world reknowned Ballets Koteba as a singer and guitarist. He also toured the world with Les Go de Koteba in the mid-nineties. He was noted in 2002 as the star of the Smithsonian Folkways compilation: Badenya, Manden Jaliya in New York City. Abdoulaye was featured on the cover of the album wearing his irresistible smile. Since then, he has made further inroads in the World consciousness with collaborations with jazzmen Don Byron, Peter Apfelbaum and guitarist-journalist Banning Eyre. He also released his own album: Haklima.

Famoro Dioubate was born in 1965 in Conakry, Guinea to a griot family. He is the grandson of El Hadj Djelli Sory Kouyate, a living legend of the Mandeng balafon. During his teens he spent a five years in Abidjan and worked with Cheik Smith-Sherif and Sekou Camara Cobra. Back in Conakry he co-founded "Les Heritiers" with Sekouba Kandia Kouyate and recorded the albums "Kandia Dinke" and "Nyoumekela" with this group. Concurrently, he was the understudy of his grandfather in the Ensemble Instrumental National and routinely performed for the President and visiting foreign dignitaries. He was a member of Mory Kante's orchestra for the performances and recording of the "Traditional Symphonie." In the early nineties, he was a member of the "Groupe Standard" which accompanied most of the visiting great stars of African music in Guinea. In the United States since the late nineties, he has worked as a free-lance musician for a variety of groups and dance companies in performances and recordings.