Foday Musa Suso is a Mandingo (West African tribe) griot (hereditary musician and cultural curator) who can trace his hereditary lineage back to the first performer on the 21-string kora lute. After a traditional apprenticeship in Africa, he came to the US in 1977 and formed The Mandingo Griot Society to bring his native sounds to a new, receptive audience. The group included Adam Rudolph (who recently appeared on Hassan Hakmoun's Gift of the Gnawa CD) and had featured jazz trumpeter Don Cherry as a guest, anticipating world-music fusion many years before the worldbeat era. ~ Myles Boisen