One speaks very little about him. And yet he is one of the largest craftsmen of the international musical fame of Mali because many of our stars passed by his school. Massambou Wélé Diallo is a true maestro who shines as well by his talent as by his discretion.

Profile of a monument of the Malian music.
"I was very early excited by music. Since secondary school, I started playing the pipe and the harmonica", explains Massambou. Only through his way of speaking about his career, we feel all the passion this clever composer and rigorous formative has for music, art and culture in general.
Qualities which opened to him the doors of the legendary bands like the "Pioneers Jazz" of Niaréla, the "Mélingo Jazz", the "Super Mono Band" (Bougouni), the "Kéné Star" (Sikasso) and the "Ciwaara Band" (Kati). Meanwhile, it integrates the INA as professor of music. This gives him the occasion to equip this establishment with an orchestra of girls and a mixed formation.
In 1980, the talent of Massambou Wélé Diallo is rewarded by a scholarship in Cuba where it carries out higher studies in music. When he returns with his licence, he returns to the INA as chief of the teaching Committee of music. And in 1987, he?s chosen by the national Management of arts and culture (DNAC) as technical director of the national instrumental Ensemble of Mali.

"The artistic director is in charge of the composition of the repertory and the arrangement of the songs. He is the musical responsible of the Ensemble ", explains the maestro who assumes this task with a great success known of all. Outside the national instrumental Ensemble, Massambou is not unemployed. He is always overflowed by requests for framing and arrangement of the young artists.

In fact, Massambou is one of the biggest craftsmen of the current international notoriety of the Malian music because super stars such as Kandia Kouyaté, Oumou Sangaré, Habib Koité, Wandé Kouyaté, Rokia Traoré, Hadja Soumano, Oumou Soumaré, Nabintou Diakité... passed by his hands. They owe him a great part of their success.

Composer with a fertile original inspiration and arranger of genius, we owe him successful compositions like "Musolow" (national instrumental Ensemble), "Solonba" (Super Mono Band) and "Numuya kulumba" (Ciwaara Band). Massambou Wélé is also very coveted by the creators and the directors of plays and films like SIGIDA of Salif Traoré. The maestro is conscious of the progress of the Malian music. But, he is afraid "It is necessary to look out for the unconstraint of the television and the radios which flood us, without discernment, with songs and steps of dance coming from elsewhere. The result is that the Malians, especially the young people, attach less and less importance to our culture", he informs.

The artists also have their part of responsibility in this situation which threatens artistic and cultural blooming of our country because they fall into the facility. ?L'observateur? proposes "to sensitize people in the revalorization of our artistic inheritance. It is time to act to save our culture. The Malian music, when it is well worked, does not have anything to envy the others because it is sung easily and is danced without problems".

This foreign invasion is not the only threat which planes over the music and even over all the creations in Mali "piracy is a great danger which, if it is not quickly circumscribed, risk to kill art in Mali", warns the artistic director. It adds, "During the last days of reflexion on the plague, we have had specific proposals like the creation of a special brigade to fight against piracy. If they are really applied, the artists will be able to live of their sweat. In Ivory Coast, when one sees you with a pirated cassette, you risk not only the prison, but you will have to pay not less than one million F CFA of fine. The struggle against piracy is a problem of respect, a question of seriousness and sincerity in engagement. If nearby countries like Ivory Coast and Burkina could circumscribe it, Mali must also manage to do it".

Stumbling forty, father of several children among who only the youngest child develops a interest for music, the maestro fight especially for the new generation which must take over to safeguard the international notoriety acquired by the Malian music. A noble implication of the father, the professor, the arranger-composer and the patriot concerned by the wellbeing of the creators and good image as well as artistic and cultural development of his fatherland. That is totally normal for a discrete maestro!

Extract from " Massambou Wélé Diallo, Artistic Director of the Ensemble - A discrete maestro " by Mousa Bolly
Link : http://www.mali-music.com/Cat/CatE/EnsembleInstrumental.htm#MWD