Bassekou Kouyate (born 1966) is a musician from

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. His band is known as Ngoni ba.

Life and career

He was born into the Kouyate family in Garana,

Barouéli Cercle Barouéli Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Ségou Region of Mali. The administrative center (''chef-lieu'') is the town of Barouéli. The Cercle is divided into 11 communes:. Names of communes are in upper-case without accents. * ...

, 60 kilometres from

Ségou Ségou (; , ) is a town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 inhabitant ...

, in 1966.Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: At the age of 12, he started playing the ngoni. In the late 1980s he moved to the capital,

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

.Fly Global Music, March 10, 2007
Bassekou Kouyaté – Blue Like a River to a Desert
Kouyate's debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Segu Blue'', was released internationally in 2007 by Outhere Records and distributed in the U.K. by

Proper Music Distribution Proper Music Distribution is the largest independent music distributor in the UK, with annual sales of over £25million. It is a wholly owned subsidiary company of Proper Music Group Limited. In recent years it has been a frequent winner of cove ...

. The album was produced by

Lucy Durán 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 ...

. He has also appeared on a number of albums by

Toumani Diabaté Toumani Diabaté ( ; 10 August 1965 – 19 July 2024) was a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he was involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styl ...

and has performed in several European countries. In 2010, Kouyaté toured with

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...

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

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) * Bassekou Kouyate & Amy Sacko: ''Djudjon'' (One World Records, 2024)

Contributing artist

* ''

The Rough Guide to Desert Blues ''The Rough Guide To Desert Blues'' is a world music compilation album originally released in 2010. Desert blues refers to the music of the Mandinka and related nomad groups of the Sahara, who perform a style of music considered the root of the ...

'' (

World Music Network World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" competi ...

, 2010)

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

*2008 –

BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music The BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music was an award given to world music artists between 2002 and 2008, sponsored by BBC Radio 3. The award was thought up by '' fRoots'' magazine's editor Ian Anderson, inspired by the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. U ...

– Album of the Year & African Artist of the YearBBC3 Awards for World Music winners 2008
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References

External links

*
Outhere Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kouyate, Bassekou 1966 births Living people Malian musicians Ngoni players People from Ségou Region 21st-century Malian people