Amadou Kouyate
Baltimore, Maryland, United States | SELF
Music
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Amadou Kouyate is a multi-instrumentalist and singer in the ancient tradition of the djali, the historian-musicians of the Manding people of West Africa. He sings and plays kora (21-string harp) and jembe (perhaps the signature drum of Africa). Mr. Kouyate has worked with music appreciation and world music classes here at McDaniel College, clearly explaining and demonstrating these instruments and their cultural and historical background. His presentations are appropriate for music majors and non-majors alike; he was able to make this living tradition come alive for our students. They benefitted greatly from his visit, gaining an understanding and appreciation for this wonderful music.
Amadou Kouyate will be an asset as a presenter to your music appreciation and world music classes. He is also excellent in concert, solo or with his group, Memory of African Culture.
Sincerely,
Jon Seligman
Lecturer in Music (percussion/world music)
McDaniel College - McDaniel College - Presenter Letter
"The music took a place of prominence all evening, a feast of sensations, atmospheres and colors. Chief among the guest musicians was D.C. native Amadou Kouyate, playing his 21-string kora, a long-necked harp-lute with a magnificent calabash belly that Kouyate caressed and tickled with such poetic sensitivity you could almost feel the breezes of the African coast and the fertile growth of the rain forests in his phrasing..." - The Washington Post, Washington, DC
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Facebook: Amadou Kouyate
Born in the Washington, DC, Amadou Kouyate is the 150th generation of the Kouyate lineage and has studied and performed Manding music since the age of three years old. Amadou is a dynamic djembe and koutiro drummer. He also plays the 21-string kora, which he learned first with his father, Djimo Kouyate and other master Diali --oral historians/musicians-- of Manding tradition in West Africa. Amadou has dedicated his life to the task of become an ambassador of African culture to the world. The catalyst for such a responsibility is the passion he has for reconnecting those of the African Diasporas to one another. His repertoire ranges from traditional songs from the 13th century to contemporary original compositions incorporating blues and jazz riffs.
He received the Maryland Start Arts Council Governor's Citation and other artistic awards from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Special Talents and Musical Theatre Scholarships at Howard University and Levine School of Music. Amadou has studied in Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire with master musicians of the Diali tradition including Djimo Kouyate and Toumani Diabate. Amadou Kouyate has recently resumed performing full time around the world after teaching many years as an Adjunct Lecturer of African Music and Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland and as Artist-In-Residence at Montgomery College.
In addition to his solo work, Amadou Kouyate performs with his world rock ensemble Proper SKANKS as well as with Farafina Kan, Manding Jata, Spank Rock, Urban Afrikan, The Kouyate Family/Memory of African Culture and past performances with African American Dance Ensemble, Images of Cultural Artistry and Mamaya African Jazz. His credits include performances at The Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institution, Bristol Academy and Isle of White (England), Tim Festival (Brazil), Lowell, East-Lansing and Dayton National Folk Festivals, DanceAfrica DC and Chicago, with The National Symphony Orchestra, the production "Soul Possessed," directed by Debbie Allen and at Carnegie Hall with Sweet Honey in The Rock and the WPAS Men and Women of the Gospel in "INDABA."
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