Alpha Yaya Diallo is a Guinean-born Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He incorporates Guinea's rich musical tradition into his original compositions. Diallo has won two

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

s, shared a third, and was nominated another three times.

Biography

Diallo was born in

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

, the capital of Guinea. When he was young, he followed his father, a doctor who was in demand all around the country; this exposed him to a wide variety of cultural experiences, both from the different ethnic groups within Guinea itself and from neighbouring countries. When Guinea gained its independence from France in 1958, its

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

first president,

Ahmed Sékou Touré Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Sheku Turay or Ture; N'Ko: ; January 9, 1922 – March 26, 1984) was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who became the first president of Guinea, serving from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was am ...

, launched a cultural program aimed at the rediscovery and support of "Guinea's music, arts, dance and languages." Diallo recalled that, "At the time every family had a member who was being trained in music." He started playing percussion in school, but taught himself to play the guitar at an early age (either "probably six or seven" or 12, according to his inconsistent recollections). At the

University of Conakry Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry (in French ''L'Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry'', UGANC), is the largest university in Guinea and located in Dixinn Commune, Conakry, Guinea. The name is generally shortened to the University o ...

, he became the bandleader of the Sons of Rais and toured extensively with them throughout

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

. After graduation, he performed with Love Systems, Kaloum Star and Sorsornet Rhythm. Diallo moved to Europe in the mid-1980s, where he worked particularly with the Fatala group, which played traditional Guinean music and was associated with

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

's music label. After extensive touring, Diallo settled down in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada, in 1991. In 1993, he released his solo first album, ''Nene'', which was nominated for a Juno Award, as was his 1996 album ''Futur''. He won his first Juno, for '' The Message'' in 1999 in the "Best World Music Album" category, a second in 2002 (for ''The Journey'') and shared a third in 2004 for the ''

African Guitar Summit African Guitar Summit is a group of nine Canadian musicians, all of African origin, who perform traditional songs from their native countries. History The African Guitar Summit was organized in Toronto as part of a performance project for CBC Rad ...

'' compilation. He released ''Djama'' in 2005. He won the Best World Artist-Solo at the inaugural

Canadian Folk Music Award The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards progr ...

s in 2006. He plays with

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

guitarist Pa Joe Diallo, Adam Solomo and Mighty Popo in

. In addition to the guitar, he also plays the

balafon The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now ...

and the

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

. His backup band, since 1992, is called Baffing. He produced a film documentary entitled ''Best of Both Worlds'', which was filmed in West Africa, Canada and France.

Discography

* 1993: ''Néné'' (Bafing Productions) – nominated for a Juno Award * 1996: ''Futur'' (Bafing Productions) – nominated for a Juno Award * 1998: '' The Message'' (Bafing Productions) – won the Juno Award for Best Global Album * 2001: ''The Journey'' (

Jericho Beach Music Jericho Beach Music is a record label in Vancouver, British Columbia that specializes in world music, folk, and jazz. It was named after Jericho Beach in Vancouver. The label was formed in 1997 and released its first album, ''Compadres'' by Jame ...

) – won the Juno Award for Best Global Album * 2004: ''

'' (CBC Recordings) collaboration – won the Juno Award in Best World Music Album category * 2005: ''Djama'' (Jericho Beach Music) – nominated for a Juno Award * 2010: ''Immé'' (Jericho Beach Music)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diallo, Alpha Yaya Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian folk guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian world music musicians Guinean male singers Guinean emigrants to Canada Fula people Black Canadian musicians Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year winners People from Conakry Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry alumni Canadian Folk Music Award winners