Sona Diabaté

about

Sona Diabaté was born in Tiro, Guinea in 1959. Her father, the famous singer Hadj Djeli Fodé Diabaté, passed on their family's music legacy by teaching Sona to sing and to play the balafon. After attending school for several years, Sona began her career as a griot singer. Her music training included singing with and learning from Miriam Makeba, who was living in Guinea at the time. She also joined Africa's well-known and first all-female band, the "Amazones de Guinée", as singer and rhythm guitar player. She plays on their one and only recording, the 1983 "Au Couer de Paris". Following the Les Amazones recording, the producer Diapy Diawara invited Sona to Paris to record her first solo album which was later republished by Triple Earth as Terra 106 - Sahel. Sona also completed her military service at this time. During a later tour in Europe with "Les Amazones", Sona produced her second solo album "Kankele-Ti" in 1988 for the African Popular Music label. This led to her first solo tour in Europe in 1990. Unfortunately in the same year, Sona developed a serious illness which took her three years to recover from. She made a great comeback, however, in 1996 with her CD "Gare-Gare", which climbed to third place on the European World Music charts. Invitations to play in the USA and African festivals in Europe soon followed. She became known to a wide audience in Germany when she performed as opening act for Miriam Makeba and Papa Wemba at concerts in Berlin and Wurzburg in 1996.

top songs

albums

Mandingo Festival

Kankele-ti

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Desert Blues 1

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The Rough Guide to West African Music

Girls of Guinea

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Ambiances du Sahara: Desert Blues

Desert Blues: Ambiances Du Sahara

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Music Rough Guides: Out of This World

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Desert blues

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Desert Blues: Ambiances Du Sahara [Disc 2]

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Desert Blues - Ambiances du Sahara

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Oxfam Africa

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