Moussé Dramé

Moussé Dramé comes from the well-known Senegalese griot family Diabaté-Dramé-Cissokho, which is schooled in a centuries-old musical family tradition whose roots are in Mali. Moussé is a specialist in both Senegalese (sabar, bougarabou, seourouba and talking drum) and Guinean rhythms (djembé and doundoun) and rhythms from Burkina Faso (djembé and doundoun, as well as ngoni and balafon). He is also a specialist in traditional Malian rhythms (djembé, doundoun/djalidouns, talking drum), which makes him unique in the Netherlands.

From the day he was born, Moussé was surrounded by music. At age seven he made his first djembé from a coffee can, a skin and a metal wire, and by age 12 he was an accomplished doundoun and djembé player of Malian rhythms and had plenty of work at the many Malian weddings and baptisms throughout Senegal. At age 14, he was asked by Seydou Cissokho. leader of Ballet Locasia, as a percussionist. In this ballet, Moussé also learned to play sabar, seourouba and nkrin. But artistic director Mansour Gueye of Ballet Rakadjou was also interested in him, and so at the age of 15 he left with this ballet for Spain, where he performed for about a year and a half. In the following years he toured Europe with the ballet and was regularly invited by Swiss percussion students to teach, perform and accompany dance classes.

From 1994 to 1998, Moussé trained as a musician and teacher at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Dakar. Since 1998, Moussé has lived in Amsterdam, where he and his wife Turid set up Djembé Dramé in 1999. Moussé teaches percussion classes five days a week in various cities in the Netherlands. He also conducts workshops in Europe, the United States and China. 
Moussé and Turid also founded the Djalidonkoli Foundation, which organizes the annual West African Djembé and Dance Weekend on the island of Schiermonnikoog and a musical trip to Senegal every two years.

Moussé performs regularly with the band Rimbaax, his own Djembé Dramé group and with his advanced student group from Amsterdam. He has also performed frequently as a guest percussionist with various major artists and at various festivals.

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