Kady Diarra originally comes from Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, but grew up in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in the early 1970s. From a family of griots, she started accompanying her mother, Nana Dembélé, to the ceremonies and celebrations that drive the life of the Burkinabe community in the Ivory Coast. She quickly developed a love for dancing and eventually worked with several troupes in Abidjan. In the Bobo tradition, griots are also hairdressers, and her mother passed down the art of braiding, which became Kady’s first profession in the city.

Despite living in the Ivory Coast, the Diarra family never forgot their home in Burkina Faso, and Kady’s father, Dami Diarra, sent his kids back to their village of Djibasso every year. Kady spent formative moments there with her grandmother, Baoné Dembélé, who passed on all the secrets an African grandmother must give to her granddaughter.

The whole family returned to live in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso in 1992. Kady thought only of continuing on the path her mother had shown her. She was soon recruited by Seydouba Silla, the choreographer for the Coba du Houet Ballet, and made one of the groups lead dancers. They won first prize during the National Cultural Week of Burkina Faso in 1994. That same year, Adama Dramé discovered Kady and asked her to join the Foliba company, which toured in Europe for 3 months performing a play and ballet.

Back in Burkina Faso, Kady moved to Ouagadougou and worked on an array of projects. She put her songs and dances to work for the group Suruntu Kunu during a French tour in 1995. She has recorded a story for Burkinabe television and produced concerts in Ouagadougou. In 1997, Kady joined the Wountey Orchestra as a backup singer and dancer, and toured in Burkina Faso. That summer, she traveled to Switzerland to work with Gondwana as a singer, recording an album of African-jazz fusion and performing on a 30-show tour.

When she came back from Switzerland, Kady decided to follow her mother’s advice: she recruited musicians and formed her own group. She chose a repertoire that uses exclusively traditional instruments and played at several festivals in Burkina Faso. Encouraged by the warm reception she received, and determined to make the voices of African women heard, Kady took up the challenge of seeking a wider audience.

Since 1999, Kady has been touring in France with her four musicians and with the support of associations based in Ardèche, France, which helped her produce her first album “Faso Bara” in 2000. Since 1999, Kady Diarra has performed over 200 times in France; she teaches dance to students all over Europe and participates in a broad array of projects: singing with the German jazz pianist Van’t Hof and Pili Pili (for 20 or so shows in Germany and Austria), setting to music a two-and-a-half-hour-long show based on the epic of Soundjiata Keïta (a Mandingo emperor) told by Toumani Kouyaté, a show produced by the city of Viry Chatillon, and crossing paths with Youssou N’Dour at the New Bagnol Blues festival and Salif Keïta at the Auditorium de Lyon.

In 2004, Kady signed with the record label Sunset Édition and came out with the internationally-distributed album “Dianako”. Today Kady Diarra has one foot in Burkina Faso and the other in France, where she teaches dance through workshops and master classes. She is currently touring with her musicians and brings her charm and smiles to many stages.

“Contrary to the trend to westernize African music, Kady Diarra offers us resolutely acoustic music rooted in Burkinabe traditions. Her lyrics explore the issues important to her country today, thus following in the griot tradition of her family.”

Having performed more than 230 times since 1999, Kady Diarra and her musicians overflow with energy, creating a stage show where the sensual music of the Sahel mixes with the festive energy of African percussion. This explosive mix of ancestral tradition and celebratory energy produces an intoxicating spectacle.

Kady says, “For us, music is a uniquely oral tradition; we have it in our heads. In our language, playing music, singing and talking are all expressed by the same word and music is a big part of life.”

Translated from the French by Kirsten Burt