Benego Diakité

**Brehima "Benego" Diakité** is a master of the **donso n'goni**, a traditional hunter's harp from Mali. Born in 1965 in the village of Siekorolé in southern Mali, Diakité became a fixture in Wassoulou music and is best known for his decades-long collaboration with legendary singer Oumou Sangaré. In 1985, he co-founded Sangaré's band in Bamako and was a crucial contributor to her revolutionary debut cassette *Moussolou* (1988). Over the next four decades, he remained Sangaré's accompanist of choice as she became first a Malian and then an international superstar, with his deeply rooted Wassoulou kamel n'goni style becoming the signature sound of her band.

For much of his career, Diakité was known as a "musicians' musician" in Mali, respected by his peers but largely working behind the scenes. That changed with the 2026 release of *A Djinn and a Hunter Went Walking*, a collaborative album with balafon virtuoso Neba Solo. Co-produced by Nick Gold (former head of World Circuit Records), Ousmane Haïdara, and Sonny Johns, the album features Diakité's acoustic performances both as part of a fuller arrangement and in intimate duo settings, recorded in a Bamako garden under a mango tree. The release marked a significant moment for Diakité, bringing him into the international spotlight alongside other celebrated Malian musicians.

Genres