POETRY | Mamadì Kaba

Mamadì Kaba was born in Kancan (Guinea).
Musician, painter and writer, he is a custodian of the cultural traditions of his people. A graduate at the National School of Applied Arts at Belle-Vue, in 1977 he was a guest at the Pan-African festival in Lagos (Nigeria).
In 1978 he moved to Milan (Italy) where he started performing with local musicians as a percussionist
and guitarist.
In 1989 he was the founder of the live music club Le Djoliba, which soon became a meeting place for artists from diverse backgrounds. Le Djoliba hosted music and dance live performances of Italian and African artists. Mamadì often joined them on stage with the magic of his drums and guitar, but what the audience liked best was Mamadì’s own repertoire of songs written in Malinke.
Since then Mamadì has continued to compose, perform and collaborate with many African and Italian artists.
The power of his creativity is thus the result of an ongoing collaboration with musicians who have shared with him the power of the ancient African musical traditions.
Amongst others, Mamadì has collaborated with: Steve Piccolo, Elliot Sharp, Zeena Parkins and Giovanni Allevi