A Sense of Urban Africa




Sidiki Diabaté, “Djeliya”

Raised in the bustle of Bamako, Sidiki belongs to a renowned clan of Mande “griots,” or jeliw (sing. jeli; the w indicates the plural), musical artisans practicing the time-honored art of musical panegyric and storytelling known as jeliya (literally, jeli-ness; the ya indicates the abstract noun). Within this tradition, Sidiki’s family has performed the kora (a twenty-one string Mande harp) for generations… His grandfather and namesake was a founding member of the National Instrumental Ensemble in Mali, and his father, Toumani, is a Grammy Award-winning virtuoso on the world music circuit. Sidiki is a devout Muslim and proud of his African roots. In his music, he also reaches out to the diaspora, beyond his artisanal birthright, as a producer of hip-hop. (pg. 3)