Mali Magic Music: Yacouba Sissoko and SIYA

World-renowned master kora player Yacouba Sissoko founded the band SIYA in 1999 in New York City. The band, which originally started as an informal trio, has matured into a quintet that adeptly harmonizes the ancient practice of musical story telling on the solo kora, originating in West Africa, with the modern fuller sounds of today’s musical instrumentation. The musicians of SIYA, most of who come from Mali, perform on traditional instruments that capture the hauntingly beautiful sounds from West Africa.