Musicultural Series: Boka Kouyaté in Concert

An evening of traditional and contemporary West African music

Boka Kouyaté is a singer and multi-instrumentalist (balafón, guitar, djembe) from Guinea. He is a member of West Africa’s most famous family of Mande hereditary musicians, also referred to as griots or jalis/djelys.  Boka was born into a griot tradition, the son of Djely Nounke Kouyaté, a guitarist, balafonist and a traditional storyteller, and Djéné Dioubate, a Djely popular singer in Guinea.  Boka began singing with his mom at a young age, strapped to her back as a child while moving from ceremony to ceremony.  His father's balafón playing and traditional stories made up Boka's first musical education.  Soon after, Boka attended French school for many years, where he began writing his own songs, and went on to earn a Microbiology degree from the University of Kankan in 2010.  With his voice and the djembe drum, Boka toured throughout West Africa from 2000 to 2014 with many famous Guinean artists, such as Requins De Ballakala and Mory Djeli Deen Kouyaté. He is also the director general of the traditional performing company in Guinea called Gnankoumandouwa, since 2000.