New York Times Music Review
Mandingo Ambassadors
A Band Out of Africa, Playing Live in Brooklyn
By BEN RATLIFF
Published: October 10, 2008
"The music, which involved dazzling vocal and guitar patterns, sounded loud and light and unfailingly right at Barbès on Wednesday."
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Born in Conakry, Guinea in 1981, into a family of griots and musicians, Ismael Kouyaté began dancing and singing at the age of six.  He spent much of his childhood in the Malinke village of Farranah, in upper Guinea, and toured the country as the lead singer of a prominent youth ensemble.  At age fifteen, Ismael moved to the capitol city of Conakry to pursue his career as a performing artist, and was accepted into the Ballet Communale de Matam, one of the most acclaimed private companies in the city, where he worked for nine years as principal dancer, choreographer, and singer.  In 2000, Ismael was recruited by the National ensemble Les Percussions de Guinea, where he spent three years as the group’s lead dancer and griot. He taught dance and song to international groups visiting Guinea, and traveled to Senegal and France teaching and performing.  In 2003, he was chosen to participate in a trans-continental contemporary dance forum, through which choreographers from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Guinea were exposed to modern dance, and together created pieces fusing dance styles. Ismael later took his talents to the national company, Les Ballets Africains, with whom he toured, performing throughout Guinea and the United States. Ismael Kouyaté now lives and teaches in New York City.