Born in Nouna, located in the north-west part of Burkina Faso, Badenya les Frères Coulibaly belong to a family of griots and are members of the Bwa ethnic group. Griots implies for them the duty to perpetuate the musical heritage of their clan. The griots today have an ever increasing responsibility which the Coulibalys assume with brilliance: they are not only the guardians of the memory and lessons of the past, but as well the witnesses and the actors of a society undergoing changes. Their role forces them to follow the course, even to anticipate hopes, and to channel the possible outburst of this transformation.

Badenya les Frères Coulibaly's music is the music of today, a live music of deep Africa, which draws from the roots the substance of its revival. Lassina has developed his inborn talent and has mastered several instruments. Souleymane, whom his brothers call Solo, is considered to be the one having wisdom. In his brothers' eyes, he is the one whom they must listen to: he may not say much, but his djembe or balafon speaks for him and bring everyone to agreement. He taught his brothers how to play the djembe. Having lived in Ivory Coast for over a year as a disciple of the master drummer Adama Dramé, he has acquired a melodious djembe playing technique with outstanding rhythmic developments.

Ousmane, Kassoum Coulibaly, Abdoulaye Diarra/Coulibaly and Kalifa Diarra/Coulibaly are the nephews of the three brothers. They learned music since their childhood, listening to their elders during concerts in Africa. They became masters of the djembe, balafon and doumdoum while touring in Europe and in Africa. Singer and dancer, Mariam and her sister Djouma started out with Koba, which is one of the best traditional dance company of Burkina Faso. After years of practice with her big family, Mariam is today the most solicited singer for giving praise at weddings and baptisms. Her presence within the group gives a feminine touch absolutely magical with grace, vitality and happiness. She reminds the magnificent interdependence between music and African dance.

1989: They participated to the festival "Music and dance from West-Africa" in Switzerland, Germany, England and Netherlands. Since 1989, they tour every year in duo and trio. They are regularly invited by the "Atelier of ethnomusicology" of Geneva where they teach African percussion and dance.
Since 1995, they tour with their niece and nephews, a total of seven artists.
July 1991: They perormed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, organized by Quincy Jones. They were the opening act for the last Miles Davis big Band concert. The audience greatly appreciated they improvised a magnificent tune with the Bahia Percussion who joined them on stage. In reaction to this success, Claude Nobs and Quincy Jones invited the trio for two additional performances and this is how they got to play with Georges Clinton and during the prestigious night "Quincy Jones and his friends" with Georges Benson, Al Jarreau, Toots Thielmans, the rappers Kool Moe Dee, Mel Mellow and many others.
November 1991: W.H.O. (World Health Organization) invited the Coulibaly Brothers to inaugurate the World Day of Aids and to compose a song about this event.
March 1992: The twins Lassina and Ousseni were invited by the "Fondation Sacem" in Paris for a show for the "Night of the percussion" in the "Theatre des Champs Elysée", beside Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Mino Cinélu et David Friedmann. Their concert was welcomed with warmth and admiration and was a remarkable start into the Parisian scene.
1993: It is in North Africa, in Tunisia that they were asked to teach African music and dance.
1994: European tour in Spain, Barcelona and Madrid for an African festival with Salif Keita, Cesaria Evora, Khaled and Johnny Clegg. Performance in Belgium - Bruxelles, Anvers and at the famous "Festival de Jazz de Ouagadougou" in Burkina Faso.
1995: The twins toured in Europe for a concept called" Brazil back to Africa". Then they performed in Slovakia for an exceptional concert. In the Fall, they performed with the entire family - 8 musicians and 4 singers, dancers for several concerts in Switzerland.
1996: Baaba Maal invited them in Senegal for his tenth anniversary in the music world. There they met Peter Gabriel and shared several exceptional performances with Youssou N'Dour.
1997- 1998: During their European tour, they did a video clip for the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. They were invited to perform for a "Tribute of Rhythm" with the greatest "tabla" player, Zakir Hussain and the former Japanese Kodo drummer, Leonard Eto.
1999-2000: European Tour. Recording in Geneva, Switzerland of a maxi-album dedicated to their late brothers and sister, featuring Sékouba Bambino Diabaté, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Diana Miranda.
2001: World tour - USA, Israël, Malaysia, Europe.
2002: European tour. In June, Carlos SANTANA invites the group to perform with him at the Letzigrund stadium in Zürich. Every 2 years since 1988, they perform for the closure of the famous film festival "FESPACO" in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Badenya les Frères Coulibaly proved that their musical language belongs to the present. They enact a dialogue between their African heritage and the other cultures of the world, a dialogue made possible by their ability to listen to the pulse of life.

Discography:
1992 "Anka Dia" (Saga/Auvidis) - B 6775
2000 "Seniwe" (COD-TRACE) - 38801

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