Djeli Moussa Diawara

Djeli Moussa Diawara (also known as Jali Musa Jawara) is born in a family of Guinean griots, hereditary caste of musicians. His father was a balafon player, and his mother a singer. His half-brother, they share the same mother, is Mory Kanté. He then became a « jali » or « djeli », mandingo word for griot. He learned to play the Balafon, the Kora and the guitar. In 1983, his first LP, now known as Yasimika, is released in Abidjan. It's still nowadays considered a great piece of African music. His Flamenkora album is published in 1998, offering a rich blend of styles, from his Mandingo roots to Flamenco. In 2000, Djeli Moussa records "Ocean Blues - from Africa to Hawaï" with Bob Brozman, that gets good reviews. Since then, he founded Kora Jazz Trio. He's the composer of most of the tracks, mainly the ones where he sings. Of course, he plays the Kora and sometimes the guitar, on the 3 albums released so far (Part I, II & III). Singer et musician, Djeli Moussa developed a very intimate relationship with his 32-stringed Kora, which is unique and was adapted at his request from the 21-stringed traditional Kora. He's able to adapt to many different rhythms from traditional Mandingo to Salsa, Flamenco, Blues and Jazz. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.