Bassekou Kouyate, a musician from the West African country of Mali, will showcase his talent at this year’s Savannah Music Festival. On April 2, he’ll share the stage with the Bill Frissell Trio at the Charles H. Morris Center.

If saying “Bassekou Kouyate” is a mouthful, Kouyate himself revealed the meaning behind his name: “My name is actually Sékou, and most Malians are called after an older family member and I’m called after my paternal grandfather: Ba means ‘old’ or ‘great’ and in front of my actual name, this gives Bassékou,” he said via translator in an e-mail interview.

Perhaps one of the festival’s most seasoned performers, Kouyate has been playing since the age of eight. He said that with no schools in his village, music became his earliest form of education.

“I was born into a family of professional musicians in a village where there was no school and naturally the one form of learning that was important was music,” Kouyate said.

At that time, his father began to teach him the ways of the ngoni. The ngoni is basically the name of a tradional West African lute, or stringed instrument.

“My father, Mustapha, was a ngoni player who was famous in the region. He used to go off to play in neighboring towns and villages and people loved to listen and gave him gifts: once he came home with several cattle that some Fula herders had given him because they liked the music. My mother, Yakaré Damba, was a well-known singer and in fact it was when she needed me to accompany her that I first left the village and we traveled to what is now Burkina Faso,” Kouyate said.

However, while Kouyate tried out a new experience, his grandfather wanted to remind everyone to hold on to the older traditions of their ancestors.

“Her [Yakaré Dambar’s] father, Bazoumana Sissoko, was the most famous djeli praise singer of his day, and he accompanied himself on the ngoni. But he refused to sing people’s praises, saying they didn’t compare with all their ancestors – it was their praises that he sang, and reminded people of traditional values,” Kouyate said.

He said that he’s always felt the support of his family and the community in Mali. He and his wife, who performs with him, enjoy supporting their children by literally singing their praises.

“The family is great: the whole household is a continuous rehearsal and everyone, adults and children play an instrument or sing, or both. I think the best illustration of how we support each other is when our older children, Ngoniba Junior, perform and we’re all there backstage, excited and cheering them on. This is how the older members of the family supported me when I began to perform. It’s a very close community and even Malians from our area who are not musicians all know us, or know our parents and feel that our music is part of their heritage,” Kouyate said.

This joy and dedication translate to Kouyate’s live performances. This is especially prevalent in live footage of him on tour with Bela Fleck. Kouyate said that the best thing anyone can do at his performance is be enthusiastic.

“[It is the most rewarding when we are] seeing, feeling that the audience really wants to move and sing to our music,” he said.

For anyone planning to attend the performance, expect to get your heart racing and dance until you drop – Kouyate wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I just hope people enjoy our music and that this will inspire some of them to explore Malian music a bit more, and who knows, even come over and discover the many different types of music that are played live in our country.”