Drisa Kone was born in 1960 in Kourouba, a small town some 100km to the south of Bamako. Kourouba is situated close to the towns of Kangaba and Keyla. It is assumed that Kangaba had been the capital of the great medieval empire of Mali (13th-16th centuries), and Keyla is the seat of the most respected lineage of Kuyate jeli (griots) who hand down until today from mouth to ear the epic of Sunjata Keita, the hero-founder of this empire. Kone was sent to Bamako in 1973