Bassekou Kouyate is the leading proponent of the Malian ngoni, a lute-like instrument found throughout West Africa. Born in a rural village, he was steeped in traditional Malian music and apprenticed on the ngoni until, at age 19, moving to Bamako, where he was discovered by and began recording with Toumani Diabaté. He married vocalist Ami Sacko, and the husband/wife team performed throughout the region, becoming Malian folk music heroes. Kouyate's relationship with Diabaté peaked with 1999's Kulanjan, a joint venture with blues/world music icon Taj Mahal. Kouyate's contributions to Ali Farka Touré's final release, Savane, earned him the prestige needed to form and record his own band, Ngoni Ba, which released Segu Blue, a collection of music for ngoni quartet, in 2007. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez