The Voice of Kenedougou

Ingrid Monson is Quincy Jones Research Professor of African American Music at Harvard University. She has twice served as Chair of the Music Department. She is the author of Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa (2007), Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction (1996), and an edited volume entitled The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective (2000). Her essays have appeared in Critical Inquiry, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Ethnomusicology, Daedalus, Black Music Research Journal, and many edited volumes. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Neba Solo is Mali's reigning master of the pentatonic bala. He modernized the Senufo bala tradition through designing and building a bigger bass instrument, composing new songs with social commentary, and creating innovative choreography. Raised in the farming village of Nebadougou, Mali, Solo's exceptional talent as a bala player, singer, and

percussionist was recognized when he was a small child. In 1995, he won first prize at the 1995 Doundunba Top Festival in Koutiala, Mali and became Mali's artist of the year the following year. With seven albums as a leader, dozens of videos, and appearances on many other albums including those of Toumani Diabate and Oumou Sangare, Solo is a seasoned artist. For his towering excellence, in 2019 he was awarded Mali's top honor (Commander of the National Order) by Mali's president.