Female Kora Player - Vocalist - Composer - Dancer

Guylene Solon (Pronounced Ghee-len) is a Haitian American multifaceted artist, musician and composer born in Brooklyn, New York 1984. 

She is a virtuoso American Kora Player. The Kora is a 21 string harp-lute, west African instrument. She was first taught in 2014 by Senegalese musicians Amadou Fall, Salieu Suso, and Zal Sissokho. Guylene Solon is one of the few professional female Kora players in the world.  The teachings of the Kora were traditionally passed down through men for 7 generations. It is only in this generation that women of African descent have taken the challenge of playing and representing the storytelling tradition through music with the Kora, connecting them to their ancestry. 
 
Solon combines her voice, the sound of the Kora, and contemporary dance performances, using both ancient and classical instruments with guest musicians.
 
The first International album she composed titled Respiro (Breath) was in collaboration with Italian musicians Giovanni Longo and Michele Russo, recorded in Italy in 2014. Later to compose and produce her first solo demo titled Lakay (Home) in 2016, an instrumental fusion of the Kora, sounds of nature, rain & soft percussion.

She is now recording in studio the album VIZYON 21.
 
As a child she specialized in visual arts and playing the alto & tenor saxophone. Initially, she studied Fine arts & Photography at Parsons School of Design in New York City & Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY under the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), but her passion for music developed later on as an adult when she took an interest in world music, jazz & dance.

In 2006 Solon worked alongside legendary musician Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Orchestra as the assistant stage director at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York. Later taking on contemporary world dance in Europe and Latin America, including Gaga Movement taught by Guy Shomroni and Contact Improvisation with Raul Talamantes and Israel García White.
 
She is a professional in art & design, dance, and music in over 20 countries, performing worldwide for over a decade. As a dancer for Jazz & Ska group Taapa Groove, in 2009 in Mexico City. As a Kora player, she has performed at Bari Jazz Festival in Bari, Italy & Yoga Festival in Rome and in events worldwide.
 
Her background in visual arts, design, music and dance are matched with numerous awards since the year 2000.