1. Growing Up

I grew up surrounded by music and dance. I was born in Guinea, West African into a griot family (musician family). Griots are the keepers of tradition through music. My mother was a singer and my father a balafon player. Wherever my parents performed when I was a child, I would go with them. Music has always been a part of my daily life. I can’t even remember when I started playing the djembe.

2. Inspirations

Many of West Africa’s greats have always been my inspiration such as Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour, Baba Maal, Fela Kuti. Of course Bob Marley was a figure in my youth growing up in West Africa. I am more lately inspired by several more contemporary groups which are coming out of West Africa and France, who are heavily influenced by hip hop and rap. I am inspired by a fusion of tradition and urban, today.

3. Your Band

Keyim Ba is a nine-piece big band that is like my family now. My brother Mohamed Bangoura joins me onstage, as well as Yacou MBaye from Senegal on percussion, Moussa Diakete from Mali, the former guitarist to Salif Keita on lead guitar, and Simon Olsen of Electric Empire on bass. We are joined also by Sydney musician Blair Greenberg on guitar, Julian Belbachir on kit, Miriam Lieberman, and my partner Rachel Bangoura on the dancefloor. It’s an awesome group of really talented musicians – I feel very lucky to work with them so closely. We have a lot of fun!

4. The Music You Make

We recently recorded our new album Mami Wata at The Grove Studios and Rifton Records with some great guest artists including Lamine Sonko (One Africa), Jason Heerah (Electric Empire), Danny G. Felix, Nick Garbett and Matt Ottignon to name a few.

The official album launch is set for Friday November 22 at The Basement, Sydney.

5. Music, Right Here, Right Now

Keyim Ba have just been on a national tour supported by Playing Australia and Arts NSW so we are feeling pretty good about the live music scene at the moment! Having said that though, I think the toughest thing for musicians is how to make ends meet when music is your full-time gig and not just a hobby on the side. All the members of Keyim Ba are professional, full-time musicians.

We are slowly overcoming the hurdles of the industry – the more we push, the more we are known, the easier it becomes to land gigs and festivals. It was tough covering costs to get our album out recently but we did it independently and are really proud of that.

I would like to see the world music genre become more supported overall in the Sydney scene – thank goodness for venues such as The Basement, Camelot Lounge, 505, Jam Gallery and the crew booking those venues who continue to support the development of this genre.

Keyim Ba appear at the West African Festival, Saturday November 16 at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour. Details at westafricanfestival.com.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine