Bassekou Kouyate

Master of the n'goni, the traditional Malian lute and probable ancestor of the banjo, Bassekou Kouyaté takes Malian music around the world. After playing with Toumani Diabaté and Ali Farka Touré, he released the album Segu Blue in 2007. For his second album, I Speak Fula in 2009, Bassekou Kouyaté was nominated for a Grammy Award. A member of the Afrocubism project in 2010, Bassekou Kouyaté performed with Paul McCartney and Damon Albarn on Africa Express in September 2012. Recorded in Bamako during the curfew that followed the ousting of President Toumani Touré in 2012, Jama Ko took on historic resonance in 2013. In 2015, Bassekou Kouyaté released the musically offensive Ba Power.