Biography
Boncana Maïga's perceptive and inventive skill in arranging has shaped much of Mali's modern musical landscape. He served as director and saxophonist of Le Negro Band De Gao in the early 1960s, then turned to the transverse flute during nine years of world-music study in Havana, Cuba. While there, he joined Las Maravillas De Mali for performances of Cuban repertoire. After returning to Mali in 1974 he stayed with the ensemble, which soon took the name National Badema. In the late 1970s he settled in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, where he began supplying arrangements for other artists and quickly earned recognition as one of Africa's leading arrangers through work with Alpha Blondy, Abdoulaye Diabate, and Omar Pene & Super Diamono. In 1992 he teamed with record-label owner and producer Ibrahima Sylla to launch Africando, an Afro-fusion group whose New York rhythm section backed Senegalese vocalists Pape Seck, Medoune Diallo, and Nicholas Menheim. Maïga received the Kora Award for Best Arranger in 1997, Africa's counterpart to the Grammy.
Albums
Singles
