Bassekou Kouyate

Bassekou Kouyate (born 1966) is a musician from Mali. His band is known as Ngoni ba.

Performing live in 2008.

Life and career

He was born into the Kouyate family in Garana, Barouéli Cercle, 60 kilometres from Ségou, in 1966.[1] At the age of 12, he started playing the ngoni. In the late 1980s he moved to the capital, Bamako.[2]

Kouyate's debut album, Segu Blue,[3] was released internationally in 2007 by Outhere Records and distributed in the U.K. by Proper Music Distribution. The album was produced by Lucy Durán.[2] He has also appeared on a number of albums by Toumani Diabaté[2] and has performed in several European countries.[2] In 2010, Kouyaté toured with Béla Fleck.

Kouyate's wife, Amy Sacko, is also a successful solo artist and sings lead in his band.[2][4] His father, Mustapha Kouyate, was a ngoni player and his mother Yagaré Damba was a praise singer.[1] Kouyate, together with Amy Sacko and Ngoni ba, appeared at The 2013 Proms.[5]

Discography
Albums
  • Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Segu Blue (Outhere Records, 2007)
  • Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: I Speak Fula (Outhere Records, 2009)
  • Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Jama Ko (Outhere Records, 2013)
  • Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Ba Power (Glitterbeat Records, 2015)
  • Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Miri (Outhere Records, 2019)
Contributing artist

Filmography
  • 2008: Throw Down Your Heart, by Sascha Paladino: Himself
  • 2013: The Africa Express, by Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye: Himself
  • 2016: Easy Man, by Jasper Cremers and Dennis de Groot: Himself
  • 2016: Mali Blues, by Lutz Gregor: Himself

Awards

References
  1. Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Bassekou Kouyate
  2. Fly Global Music, March 10, 2007: Bassekou Kouyaté – Blue Like a River to a Desert Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Dacks, David (March 2010). "Ngoni Hero Bassekou Kouyaté". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09.
  4. Allmusic.com entry on Amy Sacko
  5. "Prom 54: World Routes Prom". bbc.co.uk. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  6. BBC3 Awards for World Music winners 2008
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