bio By-spiel Project - Andreas Fulgosi

Baba Konate
Percussio n is t, tea cher, cr af ts man
1 974 (Burk ina F aso)
By-Spiel Project
Baba Konate comes from a long line of griots (West African poets and praise singers)
whose music is passed on from father to son. He began learning percussion at the age
of 5 and his talent and passion for music soon earned him a position as a soloist
within his family.
At the age of 18 he founded the Badema troop, comprising percussionists, dancers
and singers. At the same time he was trained as an artistic director by the teachers
Alassaned Kongo and Yaya Konate from the Ministry of Arts and Culture of Burkina
Faso.
Today, he divides his time between concerts in Africa and Europe, participating in
National Culture Weeks, teaching and making percussion instruments (djembe, tama,
dumdum and balafons)
Babe Konate is a musician with vision who strives to bring his musical traditions into
contact with the rest of the world. This spirit of engagement has brought him together
with many musicians from other cultures and these encounters have driven him to
develop his music and his ideas: an endeavour which has naturally brought him to
work with jazz, blues or modern music groups.
Baba Konate has been director of the Badema troop since its creation in 1992. The
troop regularly gives concerts and performs at festivals and cultural competitions in
Burkina Faso. In 2004 he toured France with his group, giving a number of percussion
workshops (Musique du Bac, J B de la Salle, France.
Since 2002, he has been a sideman in the By-Spiel Project and has joined them on
tour in Switzerland, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Madagascar. He's also played with the
group at a number of festival: Jazz à Ouaga (Burkina Faso), Saint-Louis Jazz festival
(Senegal), French Cultural Centre in Dakar, Just4U in Dakar (Senegal), Madajazzscar
(Madagascar), Jazz at L'A.M.R, Geneva (Switzerland).
In his work teaching musical language at the Conservatoire de Genève, he has joined
forces with a professor there, Pascal Schaer, to develop teaching materials (sheet
music, CD, etc) to help students learn rhythm, tempo and group work.
He has performed with Pascal Schaer's quartet at numerous concerts in Switzerland
and France, notably at the Altdorf (Lucerne) and Laffi Bala (Chambery) international
festivals. He is also a sideman of the Swiss group NK.
In 2005 he has continued to run teacher workshops at the Conservatoire de Genève
as also runs children's workshops on musical awareness and elementary and
advanced music in Burkina Faso
and Geneva.
Baba Konaté has performed with:
Olombelo Ricky (perc) – Maurice Magnoni (saxophone) - Lars Lindvall (trupet) -
Cyril Moulas (guitar) - Michel Wintch (piano) - Béatrice Graf (drums) – Andreas
Fulgosi (guitar) – Luigi Galati (drums) – Pascal Schaer (trombone) – Nicola Orioli
(clarinet), Bassekou Kouyaté (n'goni,) Neba Solo (balafon).
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