DESCRIPTION:
Performance - 5 July 2014
Debademba means ‘big family’ in Bambara and the heads of this family are fleet-fingered guitarist Abdoulaye Traoré and golden-voiced singer Mohamed Diaby. Traoré was born in Burkina Faso, spent his twenties travelling in West-Africa, playing with bands and picking up playing styles, before settling down in Paris in 2002. Diaby, the son of the Ivorian griot Coumba Kouyaté, arrived in Paris in 2008 from Bamako, after winning a TV talent show sponsored by Oumou Sangaré. Mutually inspired by a shared vision of a mix of African styles rooted in the Mandingo culture and influenced by the cultural crossroads of Paris, the’re cultivating their own sound where Wassoulou and Ivoirian rhythms and harmonies meet Arabic-Andalusian influences, Ethiopian sounds, Afro-funk, African salsa and the universal blues.

Abdoulaye Traoré, guitar, mandola (author/composer)
Mohamed Diaby, vocals;
Yves William Ombe Monkama, drums;
Bisou Bass, basguitar;
Philippe Monange, keyboard.