About Mamady Keita and Tam Tam Mandingue:

About Mamady Keita and Tam Tam Mandingue:

Mamady Keita, born in August of 1950, was initiated into the history and music of the Manding at the age of 7 by Karinkadjan Konde, an elder djembefola (professional djembe player) and Master Drummer in the village Balandugu, located in Wassolon, Siguiri Province, Guinea, West Africa. At the age of 13, he was taken to the capital city, Conakry, to play with Ballet Djoliba, one of Guinea's two national ballets. He continued his drumming mission in Ballet Djoliba for the next 26 years as soloist and eventually artistic director, making several world tours.
In 1988, Mamady relocated to Brussels, Belgium where he founded Tam Tam Mandingue, now an international school of West African percussion, developed to pass on the traditional djembe/dunun music of the Manding.  Currently with 14 branches worldwide. Though Mamady now lives in San Diego, CA, he spends most of the year traveling around the world performing and teaching.  His 3-week workshops happen each year in Guinea, Japan and United States; shorter workshops happen all over the world!
Mamady has been the focus of 4 documentary films: The first, "Djembefola", was released in 1991; 2 have been produced by Japanese Directors; and the latest film, "Mogobalu" (the masters) was released in 1998. Mamady has recorded 10 CDs on Fonti Musicali Mamady has also created 7 instructional videos, for beginners, intermediates, advanced and professionals. Mamady's book/instructional CD, "Mamady Keita: A Life for the Djembe--Traditional Rhythms of the Malinke" (co-authored by Uschi Billmeier) has just been re-issued in a revised edition with new and updated information and translations. Many of these items will be available for sale at the workshops.

To learn more about Mamady Keita and his organization, Tam Tam Mandingue, please visit www.ttmusa.org you can also visit www.mamadykeita.com. 

Here's a small clip of Mamady with his group Sewa Kan

I am the Director of Mamady's Midwest branch of Tam Tam Mandingue in the United States, Tam Tam Mandingue-Chicago