Amaduo Diarra je rojen v veliki družini griotov Diarra po očetu in Dembele po materi v kraju Djibasso, Bobo Diulasso v Burkini Faso, Zahodna Afrika. Grioti so zahodnoafriški zgodovinarji, pripovedovalci zgodb, legend, posredovalci v sporih, prvotno so bili svetovalci poglavarjev. Še vedno so cenjeni v burkinski skupnosti, posebno na deželi. Običajno so usposobljeni so izdelovanje in igranje na vse tradicionalne instrumente kot so brenkala ngoni in kora, mali pogovorni bobenček, doundoun, djembe in seveda balafon. Amadou igra vse te instrumente, najmočnejši je na tolkalih, posebno doundoun in djembe, kjer pride do najbojšega izraza njegova močna odrska karizma. Zaljubljen pa je v koro, ki jo igra, kadarkoli ima čas. Učenje kore ni, kot je znano, nikoli končano in pravi mojstri potrebujejo desetletja, da jo obvladajo do perfekcije.

Amadou Diarra was born into a large family of griots (Diarra on his father's side and Dembele on his mother's side) in Djibasso, Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Griots are West African historians, tellers of stories and legends and mediators in quarrels. Originally they were advisers to tribal chiefs. They are still respected in the Burkinabé community, especially in rural areas. They are usually trained to make and play all traditional instruments including stringed instruments such as the ngoni and the kora, the talking drum or doundoun, the djembe and of course the balafon. Amadou plays all these instruments but he specialises in percussion, particularly the doundoun and the djembe, where his impressive stage presence finds its full expression. He also loves the kora, which he plays whenever he has time. Learning the kora is a never-ending task and true masters take decades to perfect their skills.