French-Guinean cellist, arranger and composer Olivier Koundouno has established himself as a singular figure on today’s music scene, at the crossroads of classical, improvised music, jazz, rap and electronic sounds. Trained at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory, he soon developed his own personal language, nourished as much by academic rigor as by sound exploration and world music.
Curious about all forms of expression, he has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Youssoupha, Emily Loizeau, Dick Annegarn, Nosfell, Stephan Eicher, Cocoon and Luz Casal. On stage and in the studio, he invents new textures, blending acoustic cello, loops, noise and electronic processing, in an approach that is both narrative and organic.
His deeply expressive playing is permeated by his Guinean roots, which he evokes with touches of rhythm and phrasing, but always in the service of an open, contemporary and poetic vision of music. Whether playing in prestigious venues or in the villages of Guinea, Olivier Koundouno remains a ferryman, a storyteller, an alchemist of sound.
In 2025, he joined the Trans Cover Express project, a group created by Nicolas Repac, which freely revisits the great names of music – from Bach to Nirvana, from Vivaldi to Amadou & Mariam – in an inventive, cross-cultural fresco of sound. Together with Mirabelle Gilis (violin), Patrick Goraguer (drums) and Ludovic Joyeux (sound textures), he forms a hybrid quartet, somewhere between rock, classical music and electroacoustic explorations.
Based in Geneva, Olivier Koundouno continues to pursue his personal projects, ranging from original compositions to performances and transdisciplinary creations.
