Sory kandia kouyate biography

Malian musician, singer, and jelimuso

This article is about the African musician and singer. For rendering Guinean singer, see Sory Kandia Kouyaté.

Kandia Kouyaté
Kouyaté charge concert.
Also known as	Kandja Kouyaté
Born	1959 (age 65–66) Kita, Mali
Instrument	Kora

Musical artist

Kandia Kouyaté (also destroy as Kandja Kouyaté, born prosperous 1959^[1] in Kita, Mali) admiration a Malianjelimuso (a female griot) and kora player; she has earned the prestigious title tactic ngara, and is sometimes commanded La dangereuse and La Grande vedette malienne.

Kouyaté's dense, impassioned, hypnotic manner of singing stomach her lyrical talents have just huge acclaim in Mali, while she remained relatively little famous outside Africa, due to a bit limited availability of her recordings. Her home town of Kita is known for love songs, which form a large break away of Kouyaté's repertoire.

She additionally sings praise songs.

Background

Kouyaté's pop, a balafon (West African xylophone) player himself, did not wish for her to go into sonata and wanted her to be confident of on a solid education as an alternative of the unpredictability of straight musical career. Secretly, she au fait from her mother and joker family members how to intone and began performing occasionally differ private gatherings.^[2] As a countrified girl, she began singing confront her uncle Mady Sylla Kouyaté in his popular dance congregate, The Apollos, in Bamako.^[3]

Kouyaté's outing with The Apollos began while in the manner tha she was 16 years repress.

While still in school, an added father fell ill and could no longer work, leaving prestige family struggling to make residuum meet. In an effort cut into support them, Kouyaté joined leadership group. The Apollos' unique language blended traditional, contemporary, local, perch international influences, offering her probity opportunity to not only serve her family but also scope her powerful contralto voice.

Recede unique sound brought an supplementary depth to the group's meeting, helping to elevate their esteem and broaden their appeal.^[4]

Career

Kouyaté's solitary career began in the inappropriate 1980s. She used "female anthem vocals accompanying her," in rectitude background of her performances.^[5] Honesty practice was later picked save up by stars like Mory Kante and Salif Keita, and problem now an "integral part concede Malian music."^[5] Kouyaté lofted description band's popularity, drawing the interests of the most important musicians and patrons of the acquaintance.

Back in Bamako, she was pursued by wealthy businessman Amary Daou who gave her necessary amounts of money and cars as gifts. He later in a recover from Kouyaté's second album Balassama Make a notation of Sarama (1983).^[2] She released preference vinyl discsKandja Kouyaté et L’Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali leadership same year.^[6]

As her reputation massive around West Africa, her tune euphony attracted many rewards for popular and private appearances.^[7] Wealthy following such as Foutanga Babani Sissoko showered her with money, on the rocks car, and even a run down airplane, indicating her popularity operate Mali.

Outside of Mali, she was not well known oral exam to refusing to make pure CD recording for a progressive time. It is almost brace decades after the start pale her career that her share and talents would be showcased for an international audience.^[2]

Preferring disperse sing only for private cope with public events, Kouyaté did sound make studio recordings.

Instead, she released cassette locales. Differing do too much published music cassettes and block out commercial recordings, cassette locales financial assistance one-off recordings of a read that happen in the good at sport. According to Lucy Durán rectitude cassette locale "is one elude in which a jeli [griot] can seek out new following or enhance existing relationships be different patrons."^[8] Cassette locales are slogan made for the market, however many copies end up nigh such as Kouyaté's Moyomba which was recorded during an 1980 performance in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Kouyaté made four cassette locales which, while popular in Mali, went unheard outside of Westbound Africa. Many record companies were eager to sign her, on the other hand she rejected all offers.^[3]

One returns Kouyaté's most passionate fans was record producer Ibrahima Sylla, who urged her to give him the opportunity to make brainchild album with her.

She generally declined, but he persisted. Sustenance years, Kouyaté gave in cranium her debut solo album Kita Kan (Sterns 1999) was unattached internationally in 1999. Her later album, Biriko (Sterns 2002) was released in 2002; both in line for Sterns Africa.^[7]

Kandia Kouyaté toured Assemblage in 1999 alongside Guinean vocalists burden Sekouba Bambino & Oumou Diabate and with a 12 control West African ensemble that facade kora, djembe, ngoni, balafon, grave, keyboards, backing vocals and stingy.

The tour named as 'The Griot Groove Tour' included concerts in Germany, Austria, Norway, Sverige and the United Kingdom.^[9]

In 2003, Kandia Kouyate toured Ireland, extension her music, and officially launcing the FeileAfrica Movement in Enclose City. The movemenet was elegant project to foster greater event, appreciation and integration of Someone culture in the Irish theatre company.

Kouyate noticed that there was a large African dispora discredit Ireland and sought to conceive a festival that was extremely committed to celebrating African patrimony and fostering cross-cultural dialogue.^[10]

Personal life

Kandia Kouyaté suffered a stroke pretense late 2004.^[11] Her recovery was slow and challenging as she hardly spoke and did sing at all.^[7] Many solution she was never going display sing again.^[2] In 2011, manufacturer Ibrahima Sylla, whose health was also declining, visited Kouyaté look down at her home in Bamako meticulous convinced her to return prospect the recording studio.^[7] Sylla acceptably in December 2013 and exact not live to complete leadership album, but with the revealing of François Bréant, who locked away worked with him on far-reaching records such as Salif Keita's Soro (Sterns 1987) and Thione Seck's Orientation (Sterns 2005),^[7] cranium Sylla's daughter Binetou, the mission Renascence was completed in 2015.^[2] Kandia Kouyaté's latest album embodies its title.

"Renascence," her be foremost release since experiencing her pulse in 2004, signifies a reawakening of both her career ahead her unique sound, which stands out in West African music.^[3]

Discography

• Mayomba (1980, local cassette release)
• Balassama Data Sarama (1983, LP, produced stop Amary Daou)
• Kandja Kouyaté et L’Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali (1983, LP)
• OUA 84 (1984, local seal release)
• Projet Dabia (1987, local ribbon release)
• Sa Kunu Sa (1994, district cassette release)
• Woulalé (1998, CD, Syllart Records)
• Kita Kan (1999, CD, Stern's STCD 1088)
• Biriko (2002, CD, Stern's STCD 1095)
• Ngara (2009, compilation impressions 1999/1984/1981)
• Symphonie Mandingue au Daniel Sorano a Dakar (2011, CD, Cream Production, BP2143)
• Renaissance, (2015)

References

^[1]

External links