TRIO SAMBA DIABATE (MALI-SUISSE)

Samba Diabaté (Mali) : guitar, jeli n’goni
Vincent Zanetti (Switzerland) : jembé, tama, calebasses, kamele n’goni
Jean-Philippe Zwahlen (Switzerland) : guitar, hajouj

Samba Diabaté was born into a family of griot musicians in Kita, an important centre for Mali’s griot tradition.  From a very early age he learnt the art of the balafon from his father, a musician in Mali’s Instrumental Ensemble.  Incidentally, it was as a balafonist that he carried out his first international tours with the singer Sali Sidibé.  A brilliant guitarist and jeli n’goni (lute in Mandinka) player, he toured with Soungalo Coulibaly from 1995-2000, then settled in Bamako.  In addition to his own projects, he has performed with the Malian guitarist Djelimady Tounkara and with the percussionist Vincent Zanetti’s Djinn Djow group.  In this trio formula, Samba Diabeté places his strings at the centre of his music for the first time.  The repertoire digs its roots into Sahelian grooves and Mandinka melodies, all the while leaving each of its accomplices a great freedom of interaction.