Diom De Kossa - Wasso

Wasso, the second album from Diom de Kossa with a full band, is the result of a fifteen year long working relationship between de Kossa, Kenneth Ekornes and Olav Torget, who have studied musical traditions in Brazil and West Africa.

Diom de Kossa grew up in a small village called Toufinga northwest in the Ivory coast. It was soon obvious that the village was blessed with a gifted drummer. Kossa was picking coffee beans during daytime and also became the master drummer of the village for celebrations and ceremonies. Later Diom de Kossa was elected to become part of the Ivory Coast National Ballett, where he soon became head of the drummers. This gave him an extraordinary possibility to travel and to study the many different traditions and rhythms of the Ivory Coast. After ten years with the ballet he settled in Norway where he has been active on the music scene for several decades, allying himself with some of Norway's foremost musicians in both world and jazz music: Kenneth Ekornes (drums and percussion), Tiago Mendes (bass, vocals) and Olav Torget: N'Goni (guitar, vocals).