Djelimady tounkara biography for kids

Born in the culturally rich town of Kitawest of the Malian capital, BamakoDjelimady grew up surrounded with traditional music played by members of his family, griotsmusicians and historians by birth. Djelimady played djembe drum and ngonia banjo-like lute, as a boy. When he moved to Mali's capital, Bamako, during the s, he had actually planned to work as a tailor.

But music proved a stronger calling.

Djelimady tounkara biography for kids

He started playing guitar in a large, government-sponsored neighborhood band, Orchestre Misira. Voted the best guitarist in the band, Djelimady was selected to join the Orchestre National as rhythm guitarist, a great honor for the young player. All his adult life, Djelimady has worked to transform his ancestral traditions into dance pop.

But at the same time, he has continued to work in more traditional contexts, backing the great griot singers of Mali on records, in concerts and at the day-long wedding and baptism celebrations that are the modern griot's life blood. In recent years, Djelimady has performed in an acoustic trio called Bajourouaccompanied by another masterful griot guitarist, Bouba Sackoand by singer Lafia Diabate, a veteran of the Rail Band.

This Malian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article on an African musician is a stub. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Radio 3 Help. Listen Up! BBC Performing Groups. Contact Us Like this page? Send it to a friend! The former shepherd and drummer began playing in the local 'Orchestre' in Kita, a town in Western Mali renowned for its musical community.

Moving to the capital Bamako he was soon in demand as a solo player at weddings. He keenly absorbed the influence of Cuban and Congolese music from the radio and spent much of the s building his reputation as a player in the bands Misra Jazz and L'Orchestre Nacional du Mali. By the early '70s he was the lead electric guitarist with the legendary Rail Band, backing first Salif Keita and then Mory Kante.

They were the top band in Mali until Kante left at the end of that decade. Nevertheless, Djelimady maintained an international profile with recordings like Big String Theory by the small group Bajourou. Such was his reputation as a guitarist among those in the know that he was actually invited to join the Buena Vista Social Club on the eve of their historic first session.

But he never made it to Cuba on that occasion. Incredibly, it wasn't until this year that his first solo album was released.