Tiliboo is:

Omar Diop: vocals, congas

Felix Gibaud: alto sax

Nick Morrison: electric guitar

Conor McNally: keyboards

Seb Thieme: electric bass

Sebastian Maschat: drums

at our concerts, we are often joined on stage by special guests, friends, and members of the Tiliboo Family.

Tiliboo is a Berliner band led by composer-vocalist-percussionist Omar Diop. Omar comes from a region in the south of Sénégal called Casamance, one of the heartlands of the west-african Mandinka cultural heritage. As a child, Omar assimilated rhythms and songs from many of the different cultural groups living in this region, including Mandinka, Wolof, and Jola. By the time he was 15 years old he was already a professional choreographer for popular dance groups in the Casamance, but this was only the beginning of his musical journey.

Omar came to Europe for the first time in the 1992 to teach percussion workshops, but quickly found work as a performer, playing with african and european jazz musicians on stages all over Europe. It was during this time that he conceived and developed his personal style of afrobeat music, mixing jazz and other international influences with the traditional rhythms and melodies from Casamance. Shortly after his arrival in Berlin in 1997, he founded Lion Express, the first version of the band that would become Tiliboo.  The band moves effortlessly from funk and afro-cuban salsa to deep Casamance trance rhythms, from Fela-Kuti-style afrobeat to traditional Mandinka griot repertoire.