Sidiki Conde

When music producer Rick DePofi agreed to help Sidiki Conde - a Guinean musician living in New York City - he had no idea the affect it would have on his life. What began as a six hour recording session at NY Noise turned into an invitation to accompany Sidiki's band on a two-week off-road tour through Guinea in West Africa.

Sidiki's band, Le Message D'Espoir (The Message of Hope), is a group of disabled African musicians who through their performances hope to transform their society's perceptions of the disabled. Harnessing music as a tool for change gave them a voice like none they'd had before.

While DePofi began the trip as a hesitant participant, it wasn't long before he sensed that he was part of something far bigger than anticipated. As the band's run-down overloaded bus headed off on its thousand-mile trip through the bush, DePofi realized that he was on the journey of a lifetime.

more about Sidiki