Bouba Sacko

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Bouba Sacko was a Malian contemporary guitarist.[http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/bouba_sacko_14008/en_US Bouba Sacko] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104101904/http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/bouba_sacko_14008/en_US |date=January 4, 2011 }}, National Geographic, accessed December 2010{{Cite web|url=http://www.maliweb.net/necrologie/le-monde-des-artistes-en-deuil-bouba-sacko-poux-de-feue-djssira-kon-nest-plus-42949.html|title = Le monde des artistes en deuil : Bouba Sacko, époux de feue Djéssira Koné, n'est plus | maliweb.net}}

Biography

When Sacko started playing guitar in the 1960s, the concept of "artist guitarist" barely existed. Only griot artists must sing, dance or play guitariste in Mali. He wasn't a griot, but he changed this rule. He was one of the first nobles to play guitar. The famed praise musicians of West Africa's Mande people mostly worked with the Kora (21-string harp), Ngoni (spike lute) and wooden-slatted Balafon. Bouba's father, Ibrahim Sacko, was the director of the state-sponsored Instrumental Ensemble of Mali, so the traditional repertoire and lore of Mande griot heritage surrounded him from the start. Either way, Sacko stuck with the guitar, developing a powerful capacity to evoke traditional instruments using his axe. He died on December 26, 2011.

References

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