Artist Info: Sourakata Koité

Sourakata Koité was born in 1955 in Malème, Senegal, a Malinke-speaking area. As Sourakata says, "All the Koité are musicians!" He is indeed a member of a family of djéli (or griot in french), the hereditary caste of musician-storyteller-historians in West Africa.

His musical life began early: at age three he began to play kora (a 21-string harp) with his uncle and brother; at 11 he performed with four members of his family as Les Griots (two koras, one bala, one djembé and one singer) in a piano-bar named Thiosan. [read more...]