Bassekou Kouyate

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

Performing live in 2008.

He was born 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]

Kouyaté'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.

Kouyaté's wife, Amy Sacko, is also a successful solo artist and sings lead in his band.[2][4] His father, Mustapha Kouyaté, 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 Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba: Segu Blue (Outhere Records, 2007)
  • Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba: I Speak Fula (Outhere Records, 2009)
  • Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba: Jama Ko (Outhere Records, 2013)
  • Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba: Ba Power (Glitterbeat Records, 2015)
  • Bassekou Kouyaté & 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
  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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