In a rehearsal room two blocks from his family home in Conakry, Guinea, a boy of six or seven watched eagerly as the adults played, knowing he and his friends would get together afterward and try to repeat it. That was how Fodé Bangoura began his journey into music: as an observer, learning by imitation before he was ever even allowed to touch an instrument.

When he finally introduced himself to the local company through an uncle, no one took him seriously. But they let him stay, to do some cleaning, set up the chairs, and watch from the margins.

Seniority was earned slowly, one small promotion at a time. As Bangoura points out, it could be months or years before new members are picked to play even one part, and when his time came, he chose the djembe, a West African hand drum.

It was no random choice, either. Bangoura chose it because of what it meant. The djembe, he explains, is an…