As a boy in Mali, Balla Kouyaté remembers playing the balafon to motivate workers on a farm. He was so small, he had to stand on a large rock to be seen by the crowd. An opportunity like that would ...

CHICO — When Lansana Kouyaté taps out a rhythm on his balafon, he not only pays the bills but keeps his 800-year family history and tradition from Guinea alive and vibrant. Kouyaté started playing the ...

Why settle for a recorder when you could wield a contrabass clarinet – or something you invented yourself? Meet the players drawn to the unusual In the 2022 film Alice, the titular heroine – a slave ...

WORCESTER — Balla Kouyaté inherited a family musical tradition that goes back centuries in the West African nation of Mali. Since coming to the United States in 2000 he's been sharing it in different ...

Mamadou Diabate and Percussion Mania is known for its virtuosic balafon playing and rhythm and is characterized by two balafons as lead instruments. This ensemble is the only one of its kind worldwide ...

Aly Keïta is testament to the adage of an apple not falling far from a tree. Brought up in a family of griot musicians, the award-winning Ivorian grand master of the balafon could not resist adopting ...

Ingrid Monson, a Harvard jazz scholar and ethnomusicologist with the lofty title of Quincy Jones Professor of African-American Music, owns a collection of balafons — the West African instrument that ...

Mawdo Suso is a Griot, which is commonly known as 'jali'. A 'jali', is someone who tells legendary stories and history about his community, ancestry and genealogy. Mawdo Suso was born in Sutu koba in ...