A Farafina Kan Production
The Keeper's Code
A podcast about the living tradition of West African drumming — what it carries, who it answers to, and how it is passed on.
Mahiri Fadjimba Keita, host
About the Show
Hosted by Mahiri Fadjimba Keita, founder and artistic director of Farafina Kan in Washington, D.C., the show is a conversation across lineage: with elders, peers, scholars, and students who have given their lives to the drum. Mahiri is a certified professor of Tam Tam Mandingue International, spiritual son of Grand Master Mamady Keïta, and a direct student of Famoudou Konaté and the late Djimo Kouyate. For more than two decades he has trained with master drummers across Guinea, Mali, Brussels, and beyond, and raised thousands of children in the cultural values carried by the djembe, dunun, sangban, and kenkeni. Each episode goes beneath the rhythm to the world that made it — the ceremonies, the ethics, the families, the histories, and the responsibilities of those entrusted with this knowledge. The Keeper's Code is for working musicians, teachers, students of the tradition, and anyone who recognizes that culture is not content, and that some things are meant to be kept. New episodes seasonally.
Where to Listen
YouTube
Also on Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Amazon Music · Overcast · Pocket Casts · iHeartRadio
Episodes
New episodes coming soon. Join the list below to be the first to hear them.
This is a conversation among people who carry something.
Elders who were taught by the masters. Instructors building programs in their own cities. Scholars who have spent careers documenting this music. Dancers, drum builders, griots, and the young people coming up behind all of them. If that describes you, or someone you think belongs in this conversation, write to us.
New episodes arrive seasonally, and we will tell you when.
Join the list and you will hear about new episodes, Birthright, class registration, and travel — nothing else.