Oran Etkin/Abdoulaye Diabate Duo

The Oran Etkin/Abdoulaye Diabate Duo grew out of Oran's highly successful quartet, Group Kelenia, which mixes acoustic West African music and jazz and has performed for Kofi Anan, Al Gore, presidents of Kenya, Finland and Gambia, Ted Turner, Sophia Bush, Kerry Washington and Rosario Dawson. The duo shines a spotlight on the intimate interactions of woodwinds player, Oran Etkin and vocalist/guitarist, Abdoulaye Diabate.

Oran Etkin has been cultivating a personal voice in the worlds of jazz and African music for almost a decade. He has been performing traditional and modern West African music with various groups in the US and in Africa since 1998. In his travels to Mali, Oran had the opportunity to play for the Chief of all Griots and sit in with some of the region's most respected musicians, including Toumani Diabate, Habib Koite and the Super Rail Band.

Abdoulaye was born in in 1956 in Kela, Mali, to the Diabate family, a renowned name in traditional circles. In 1973 he joined the Tenetemba Jazz in Bamako, Mali. Then, he became the lead singer of the Koule Star Band of Kouchala. In 1975 he moved to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire where he formed his own twelve piece band, Super Mande. In this band some of the greatest luminaries of West African music circulated as members : Salif Keita, Mory Kante, Kante Manfila, Ousmane Kouyate and many more. In 1992, Abdoulaye joined the world reknowned Ballets Koteba led by Souleymane Koli as a singer and guitarist . He performed one of the main character roles in the African opera Waramba at the Atlanta Olympic games in 1996. He also toured the world with Les Go de Koteba in the mid-nineties. Since coming to America he has been an active member of the New York and East Coast African music scene as a free-lance singer/guitarist.

Sound Samples - Short excerpts from live concerts

Mali Sajo - (1:09)

Wasulu Foli - (1:38)