Jaliya

What happens when two different ethnic backgrounds from Africa meet in the Sonoran Desert? The rhythm of unity is born! Jaliya is Elijah Ndoye and Yacouba Traore. Elijah comes from the fishing community of Lebou, an ethnic group in Senegal, West Africa. He grew up in a culture where the emphasis was on piety and respect for elders with a strong practice of celebratory public exorcism dances, drumming, and rituals. Yacouba is from the landlocked country of Burkina Faso, West Africa. He is a griot, or jali, part of a long lineage of West African historians, story tellers, praise singers, poets, and musicians. Their music blends their deep-rooted culture and rich traditions with their own style of world music that is soft, bluesy, jazzy all at once.