We recently connected with Sidy Maiga and have shared our conversation below.

Sidy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Growing up in Mali, West Africa, I watched how music brought joy to people’s lives and how it brought people together. I decided that is something I wanted to do professionally to be a part of bettering the community through music.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

when I was a little kid in Mali, I was seeing a lot of djembe playing and dancing on street corners. We used to gather in the yard to try and imitate what we heard at the various performances and events. Eventually I decided to join the tutelage of twin brothers and master drummer Alassane and Fousseynou Sissoko. From there, I started to perform at weddings, baby naming ceremonies and after a few years I joined the Troupe Artistique du Districte de Bamako, which is the dance and drumming troupe of the capital of Mali, Bamako. Eventually, I moved to Rhode Island in 2006, where I started to develop my career as an instructor, band leader and started producing my own festival, Afrika Nyaga. Growing up in Mali was not easy. At some point, I had to leave school and pursue my music career so that I could financially take care of myself. This led me to have a fallout with my father. Once I was in the US, after working and traveling around the world for a few years, I decided to go back to school, which led me to the Berklee College of Music on scholarship. I was very proud to accomplish that and receive my music degree.
I’m also very proud of my annual festival, Afrika Nyaga. I have brought many world class musicians to Rhode Island and have played with many others, like Zakir Hussain, Oumou Sangare, etc. I also have a band that includes several diverse instruments, from Kora, and djembe to cello and a horn section. In 2022, I was the Grand Marshall of PVDFest and I have received several fellowships and grants, including the prestigious MacColl Johnson fellshowship.
I even worked on writing a concerto piece with another composer Kari Juusela and we played it with the Narragansett Bay Symphony Orchestra last year in December of 2022!
I have two albums and three singles out and am working on my third album.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that it allows me to travel and see the world, to meet a lot of people from different backgrounds and learn about other people’s cultures. I named my band “The Bridge Where We Meet” because my band has people from 7-10 different countries and I love creating music that combines different cultures and resonates with a lot of people from different walks of life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I grew up poor and often without a lot of help, but with a lot of grit, I was able to pursue my dreams of being a professional musician. I never gave up and often did not take no for an answer. If I believed in it, I worked really hard to make it happen for me and others. Even when I arrived here, I didn’t speak much English, but I was able to navigate my way to get to where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sidymaiga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sidymaigamusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SidyMaigaMusic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidy-maiga-777679206/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/Y3swaMTA4FY?si=BOtmESpSytDmg-Fe

Image Credits
Photo 2 James Lastowski