Djeli Moussa Diawara, born in 1962 in Kankan, Guinea, is a kora player, singer and composer from a family of griots; his father played the balafon and his mother was a choir singer. Djeli Moussa Diawara learned to play the balafon, kora, and guitar. In the late 1970s, he moved to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, where he played with his half-brother's band after Mory Kanté left the Super Rail Band. His first LP, Yasimika, was released in 1983. Djeli Moussa Diawara later moved to Paris, where his work gained recognition from both the press and public. In 1998, he released Flamenkora. He collaborated with Bob Brozman on the album Ocean Blues - from Africa to Hawai in 2000. Djeli Moussa Diawara founded the Kora Jazz Trio in 2003, releasing three albums before leaving the group in 2011 for personal reasons.
