Mamady KEITA was born in 1950 in the middle of the Guinean savannah. Introduced to the djembe from the age of 7, he joined the Ballet National Djoliba of Guinea at 14, quickly becoming the solo drummer and later artistic director. Mamady toured all over the world with Djoliba, appearing at numerous major festivals including, in 1969, the Pan-African Festival of Algiers where he received the gold medal and especially the title of “Africa’s greatest drummer“. In 1986, he joined the Koteba company in Abidjan d