Alpha Yaya Diallo is a Guinean-born Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He incorporates Guinea's rich musical tradition into his original compositions. Diallo has won two

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

s, shared a third, and was nominated another three times.

Biography

Diallo was born in

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

, the capital of Guinea. When he was young, he followed his father, a doctor who was in demand all around the country; this exposed him to a wide variety of cultural experiences, both from the different ethnic groups within Guinea itself and from neighbouring countries. When Guinea gained its independence from France in 1958, its

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

first president,

Ahmed Sékou Touré Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Sheku Turay or Ture; N'Ko: ; 9 January 1922 – 26 March 1984) was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who was the first president of Guinea from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was among the primary ...

, launched a cultural program aimed at the rediscovery and support of "Guinea's music, arts, dance and languages." Diallo recalled that, "At the time every family had a member who was being trained in music." He started playing percussion in school, but taught himself to play the guitar at an early age (either "probably six or seven" or 12, according to his inconsistent recollections). At the University of Conakry, he became the bandleader of the Sons of Rais and toured extensively with them throughout

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. After graduation, he performed with Love Systems, Kaloum Star and Sorsornet Rhythm. Diallo moved to Europe in the mid-1980s, where he worked particularly with the Fatala group, which played traditional Guinean music and was associated with

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

's music label. After extensive touring, Diallo settled down in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Canada, in 1991. In 1993, he released his solo first album, ''Nene'', which was nominated for a Juno Award, as was his 1996 album ''Futur''. He won his first Juno, for '' The Message'' in 1999 in the "Best World Music Album" category, a second in 2002 for ''The Journey'' and shared a third in 2004 for the ''

African Guitar Summit African Guitar Summit is a group of nine Canadian musicians, all of African origin, who perform traditional songs from their native countries. History The African Guitar Summit was organized in Toronto as part of a performance project for CBC Rad ...

'' compilation. He released ''Djama'' in 2005. He won the Best World Artist-Solo at the inaugural

Canadian Folk Music Award The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards pr ...

s in 2006. He plays with

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

guitarist Pa Joe Diallo, Adam Solomo and Mighty Popo in

. In addition to the guitar, he also plays the

balafon The balafon (pronounced , or, by analogy with ''xylophone'' etc., ) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé peoples, Mandé, Bwaba Bobo people, Bobo, Senufo people, Seno ...

and the

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

. His backup band, since 1992, is called Baffing. He produced a film documentary entitled ''Best of Both Worlds'', which was filmed in West Africa, Canada and France.

Discography

* 1993: ''Néné'' (Bafing Productions) – nominated for a Juno Award * 1996: ''Futur'' (Bafing Productions) – nominated for a Juno Award * 1998: '' The Message'' (Bafing Productions) – won the Juno Award for Best Global Album * 2001: ''The Journey'' (

Jericho Beach Music Jericho Beach Music is a record label in Vancouver, British Columbia that specializes in world music, folk, and jazz. It was named after Jericho Beach in Vancouver. The label was formed in 1997 and released its first album, ''Compadres'' by James K ...

) – won the Juno Award for Best Global Album * 2004: ''

'' (CBC Recordings) collaboration – won the Juno Award in Best World Music Album category * 2005: ''Djama'' (Jericho Beach Music) – nominated for a Juno Award * 2010: ''Immé'' (Jericho Beach Music)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diallo, Alpha Yaya Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian folk guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian world music musicians Guinean male singers Guinean emigrants to Canada Fula people 20th-century Black Canadian musicians Juno Award for Global Music Album of the Year winners People from Conakry Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Conakry alumni Canadian Folk Music Award winners 21st-century Black Canadian musicians