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WASSA KOUYATE

Wassa Kouyaté aka the “Korafola Musso” is a musician, composer and singer from a family of griots in Mali. She plays the piano and particularly the kora, despite the fact that in her country, women are generally excluded from playing this legendary instrument. 

Wassa Kouyaté aka the “Korafola Musso” is a musician, composer and singer from a family of griots in Mali. She plays the piano and particularly the kora, despite the fact that in her country, women are generally excluded from playing this legendary instrument. 

 

A Malinké born in Sikasso, Mali, from an early age Wassa dared to touch traditional instruments that were theoretically forbidden to her. She chose the kora, an instrument with an incredible musicality that offered her the possibility to compose many melodies. From 2012 to 2016, she was trained by the teachers of the Institute of Arts of Mali (INA) and in 2017 joined the Conservatory of Mali where she obtained a degree under the direction of the master of the kora, Madou Sidiki Diabaté. 

 

In 2020, just after completing her studies, Wassa started her musical career with a concert at the Bamako Jazz Festival. If her passion for the kora earned her reproaches of some narrow minds, today, she proudly promotes Malinké culture throughout the world. 

 

She multiplies her musical and artistic experiences by mixing musical styles and combining tradition and modernity to perfection. 

 

She collaborated with Damon Albarn in 2018 during the Africa Express project in England and in 2020 worked with Naïny Diabaté's Kaladjula Band, an orchestra composed solely of Malian women (https://youtu.be/MyQpiMEALVw ).

 

In 2020, she participated in the latest album of the Senegalese star Thione Seck (https://youtu.be/CPiO09s59kg )

 

In February and April 2022, she participated in residencies and concerts in Belgium with the Belgian Afro jazz trio Yelimani. She is also involved in several projects for the production of music commercials. 



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