Yaya Diallo

Yaya Diallo is a musician and author from the Republic of Mali.

Background

Yaya Diallo was born in 1946 in the village of Fienso (French Sudan), now Mali, to a nomadic Fula father and a Minianka mother. Yaya was raised in a culture that works, worships, lives and breathes to the beat of the drum. His mother's ties to the Berthe family, including hunters, county chiefs, and musicians, afforded young Yaya the opportunity to hear some of the best musicians of the former canton Zangasso. The musician, healer and sorcerer Nangape Kone was his protector and mentor.

Arriving in Montreal, Canada, in 1967, Yaya graduated from the University of Montreal in Chemistry in 1973. Following a brief career as a chemist, Yaya returned to traditional African music. He was a co-founder of the music and dance groups Djembe-Kan and Cleba, a member of the African Troubadours with the World Music Institute,World Music Institute, African Troubadours, featuring Hassan Hakmoun, James Makubuya, Foday Musa Suso, and Yaya Diallo. Touring debut during African American History Month, 1994.World Music Institute, African Troubadours, Town Hall, New York City, June 1996. Featuring Hassan Hakmoun, James Makubuya, Foday Musa Suso, and Yaya Diallo. as well as a faculty member with the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, NY,Creative Music Studio, Summer Festivals 81 program. Listing for Yaya Diallo of Mali. and the Omega Institute.Omega Institute, Celebrating 25 Years, May–October 2002 program, Rhinebeck, New York, p. 56. “At the Threshold of the African Soul: Village Voice,” by Yaya Diallo.

Yaya has taught Applied World Percussion at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY and offers workshops in traditional African healing, music and dance. He was a seasonal lecturer at Carleton University, teaching Aural Training I & II from 1987 to 1992 and also worked for Multiculturalism at Schools and the Community (MASC) in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, teaching more than 6000 students per year.Workshops: Yaya Diallo West African Drumming Performances and Workshops, MASC brochure, 2003–2004, p. 15. From 1974 to 1986, he was a staff member of the Intercultural Institute of Montreal, Canada, organizing workshops and lectures about the diverse cultures living in Montreal, covering topics ranging from Alternative Medicine to Aging to Music.

He has performed throughout the US, Canada, Asia (Japan, Singapore), and Europe (France, England, and Belgium).

Biography

Early years

In his book, The Healing Drum, Yaya Diallo wrote about his mother and her famous family of Zangasso, but not about his nomadic heritage. His great-grandfather's name was Yoro Diallo and when Yaya went to Fienso he changed his family name to Sountoura, which is interchangeable with Diallo. In some parts of West Africa, Fula people (Fulani; ; ) are not welcomed, especially the Diallo family. To be accepted in Fienso, Yaya Diallo's ancestors were sponsored by a Minianka family called Zango-o with the last name Kone, establishing a special relationship between the two families.

Yaya Diallo's family was semi-nomadic. Some stayed in Fienso and others were nomadic in the hostile Miniankala. Minianka farmers hated Fula people because their animals destroyed crops and young plants. To travel, Fula people were initiated into the secret societies. Yaya Diallo's grandfather, Flantio, was powerful and feared by everyone; it was reputed that when he touched you with his magic stick, you got diarrhea. Flantio resumed using the name Diallo. He married Yaya's grandmother, Kone, a midwife from the Kone family of the village Ziena.

A marabout (seer) Fula made a prophecy to Flantio saying that one of his grandsons would be well known in the world using paper and sound. This was similar to the prophecy they made to his mother. At that time, most of Minianka had never seen a piece of paper.

His father

Yaya Diallo's father, Sibo Diallo, was a Nia Messenger and medium from his birthday until 1974 when he became Muslim. During Nia Society rituals, he went into a trance while his brother played Nia Ngoni, an African bass guitar. In a trance, Yaya's father would predict the future of the village, including diseases, bad weather, disasters, death, and the gender of babies in their mother's womb, with surprising accuracy. He knew a lot of medicinal herbs and for each disease, he recommended the herbs to use. He mentored Nia Borotali, the messengers of Nia, and could read and translate the 266 characters of Nia. He died on April 19, 1995. Yaya Diallo's mother died on February 2, 1997.

Nomadic life (1950–1953)

The male children in Diallo's family had to live a nomadic life from age four to 21 years. Female children lived nomadically from age six until marriage at 16 or after.

To survive in nature, Yaya Diallo learned useful things: to be strong, to listen for the sound of hungry lions and hyenas, to observe snakes and scorpions, and to smell deadly smells. He learned the paradox of nature: a plant near a poisonous plant often has an antidote for the poison. Many human diseases have their medications in nature. Yaya Diallo's knowledge included medications found in nature that can cure or stop the symptoms of some illnesses, including diarrhea, flu, headaches, and the bites or stings of scorpions, snakes, bees, and wasps. His family bred cattle and sheep and were always moving, looking for good grass and water for the animals and places where insects would not transmit infectious diseases. They built temporary huts near villages. The women went to the villages to sell or trade dairy products and to buy rice, fish, and flour.

Predators such as hyenas and lions attacked the animals and the shepherds would hunt them away. When an animal was killed, other animals would become stressed, and sometimes the shepherds called musicians to play so the predators went away.

In nature, Diallo had time to observe and learn about animals, including predators, birds, reptiles, herbivores, and insects, and plants. As a result, Diallo was knowledgeable about biology and medical herbs.

Values

In 1953, Diallo went to French school at Zangasso, his mother's native village. During school, Diallo was sedentary. As soon as school stopped he re-joined the nomadic people. When he came to North America, that was the end of his former nomadic life, but as a musician he loves traveling. He said, "The school of traveling is unique. You can not learn in books what you learn when you travel."

Western education

Diallo attended French school from 1953 to 1959, despite French school being considered a curse for villagers. The villagers predicted that Yaya Diallo would not stay in school for two years, saying, "he is not even good enough to be black, how can he succeed in the white man's school?" In 1959, his teacher Arouna Dembele believed Yaya Diallo could succeed in the contest required to go to lycées and colleges, but he failed the contest. From 1959 to 1960, he came back to school and succeeded in the contest and went to the Collège Moderne of Sikasso. He received the D.E.F., Diploma of Fundamental Studies, in 1964. To help his mother, he wanted to study to become a teacher, but his mother refused his request. Instead, he was oriented to biological studies, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. In 1966, he succeeded in both writing and oral exams and obtained the first part of Baccalauréat Français (Malien). In 1967, the last year of secondary school, he was one of the best students in biology, which meant he could have a scholarship from the World Health Organization to go to medical school in France. Instead, in April 1967, Yaya Diallo accepted a scholarship from Canada to become a sanitary engineer.

He came to Montreal on September 22, 1967, two weeks before the mid-term exams. In 1968–69, he passed all exams except technical drawing. The Canadian government recommended that he go to an intensive drawing class, but he refused the request and lost his scholarship. His girlfriend's father, manager of Stuart Biscuit, gave him a job in the factory, and he later began to study organic chemistry in order to understand the chemical products in herbs and plants. From 1969 to 1970 he was working nights and attending school in the daytime. In October 1970, he stopped his education due to Montreal's October Revolution. Recommencing in 1973, Diallo got his bachelor's diploma in organic chemistry.

Brief career as a chemist — University of Montreal (May–September 1973)

After graduation he was hired by Dr. Robert Marchesseault, head of the Department of Chemistry, to determine how to make waterproof paper from rolls of paper in movement. Diallo had to determine the time required for each stage of treating the paper, and the quantities of the various materials. Yaya said, "I like this project. I studied chemistry to get my hands wet. I like the technical aspect of sciences. I want to make products."

He interrupted his career to apply for the Canadian government waiver for illegal aliens.

Interruption

In August 1973, Diallo learned of a program for illegal aliens and especially for students. He registered as a student at H.E.C. (Hautes Études Commerciales), a business school, and filed the requested papers to stay in Canada. For eight months, the immigration officers gave him a hard time. In March 1974, he received an order to leave Canada or he would be deported in two days. However, he met the right people at the right time and was given permission to stay in Canada. He became an immigrant in 1974 and a Canadian citizen in 1983.

Second short career as a chemist

In 1975, Diallo was ready to go back home to Mali. In the newspaper he saw a contest in which the winner would get a job at the Department of Geology at the Université du Québec in Montreal. He won the contest and was hired to work with a double collector mass spectrograph, which could be a useful project for people living in desert countries. According to the literature, this new technique could be used to estimate the age of water trapped underground. Every six months, a sample was taken and analyzed. If the age was the same, that meant that there was no new source of water to that specific location. People who use wells in the desert could be warned that one day they would lack water. When the differences changed, that meant that there was new water, so people could use the water without worries.

Musical career

Yaya Diallo said, "For my people, with its rich musical context, exposure to music begins in the wombs when pregnant mothers join in the community dance...when infants are then wrapped onto their mother's backs with a cloth and taken into the dancing circle with everyone else." This statement is quoted by Mickey Hart in his book Planet Drum, p. 88. Yaya Diallo's first music and dance lessons included exploring the balafons which were kept in his paternal family. In his native village, Fienso, he learned Peenyi (Dounou), spiritual balafon, morals, proverbs, and philosophy with his mentor Nangape Kone. Sounkalo Kone and Issa Koroma gave him djembe (daykaylaykay) lessons. Yago Kone was his biology and Moukolo teacher. In Zangasso his grandfather taught him hand and stick drum techniques, and after his death, his grandfather continued to teach him music and wisdom in his dreams. Sotigui Kone was his religious tama (talking) drum teacher. When he was six years old, Yaya Diallo had his first drum sculpted by the blacksmith Nianso Koroma. He formed his first music group with the goals and dreams to impress his grandfather.

In order to live with Minianka people, Yaya Diallo had several initiations. He learned the music and the instruments which go with each step of the rituals, always interested in the religious and mystical aspects of the music. In the different secret societies, he played the instrument that sustained the rhythm and/or tempo.