alseny sylla
Djembe

Alseny was born in Conakry, Guinea, and began studying African drums with the Federation Company at the age of 16, and later toured Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast with Etoile du Cdum.  In 1987 he moved from Guinea to Abidjan, Ivory Coast where he worked for the next eleven years with the companies C’dyao and Koteba, the first national company comprised of many different African ethnic groups from different countries that combined theater, music, dance and ancestral traditions, touring Central and Western Africa, Europe, and the U.S.   In 1999 he left Africa for New York and began performing with two West African ensembles, Foliba and Acquaba.   Alseny permanently relocated to Austin in 2000,  where he currently teaches classes in djembe and djun djun and accompanying West African dance classes at Tapestry Dance Studio, Atomic Dance Factory, and the Arabic Bazaar.   He has also accompanied West African dance classes at the University of Texas at Austin, Kenny Doram School for the Performing Arts, and Zilker Elementary School and is a faculty member of the Afrikan Village Drum and Dance Camp in Dripping Springs and the Lisangua Ya Bato drum and dance camp in upstate New York.   In addition to playing with Atash and Vengo,  Alseny is co-founder and Director of the drum and dance ensemble Lannaya, which means “confidence” in his native language, Su Su.

Visit Alseny's site – http://www.alsenysylla.com