conference

Africa Knows! It is time to decolonise minds

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Kora concert

Layba Diawara was born in a family of professional musicians in Faranah (Guinea, West Africa) in 1961. His family helped him to find his way in the rich repertoire of Djali music and motivated him to play in different orchestras and to search for new experiences across regional and national borders. He played as a guitarist in different ensembles before he was asked to join the famous national orchestra “Bembeya Jazz International” in Guinea’s capital Conakry. As a guitarist in Bembeya Jazz, he made his first tour to Europe and the US in 1985. In 1990 he settled in the Netherlands where, till today, he plays different styles of music (traditional African, jazz, soul, classic), solo, and with different groups (African, Dutch, International). Layba is a multi-instrumentalist and plays kora, balafon, guitar, and ngoni.