Trio Da Kali is an exceptional ensemble that performs music deeply rooted in the Mandé tradition of southern Mali. It is composed of three musicians from hereditary lineages. The trio was formed in 2013 under the auspices of the Aga Khan Music Programme, with guidance from British ethnomusicologist and producer Lucy Durán, a three-time Grammy nominee. From its inception, the group pledged - hence the name Da Kali -meaning “to give a pledge,” to uphold and contemporise the musical heritage of the Mandé people. The trio gained international acclaim with the release of Ladilikan (World Circuit Records, 2017), a groundbreaking collaboration with the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet. This genre-defying project merged West African instrumentation , and voice, with Western classical string textures. Ladilikan earned multiple awards and was hailed by Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington as “one of the most beautiful albums Kronos has done in forty years.”