Biography

The Kali Percussion group consists of: Abba Cisse (djembe), Bainy Sissoko (N’Gony, Tamany), Lamine Traore (djembe), Oilmar Traore (djembe), Bandjougou Kone (djembe, guitar, simby), Mohamed Lamine Sissoko (djembe, doundoun), Kassim Traore (doundoun), Issiaka Dembele (dancer), Mamadou M’Baye (dancer), Tieble Diarra (dancer), Mariam Kaba Diakite (dancer), Karim Coulibaly (doudoun), Moriba Konate (djembe), Amadou Louke (dancer), Mahamadou Diabate (djembe, calebash).

How we met:

Our first night in Mali was a marathon of a day! We spent the majority of the day out in the village of Kirina, enjoying an amazing celebration, meeting the village elders, and surveying the land that the village was donating to the school that the Playing For Change Foundation was planning to break ground on. By the time we returned to our hotel in Bamako, we were already exhausted from our day, however we had made plans to see a percussion group that had arranged an outdoor performance for us. We recharged our gear while we got cleaned up a bit, hopped in our car and headed out to meet the Kali Percussion group– and were we ever glad that we did! Fifteen amazing percussionists and dancers were waiting to give us a performance that immediately blew away any signs of fatigue that we may have been feeling– What a show!