 He was awarded immigrant status as an alien with extraordinary ability in the arts in 2007.He was Artist Associate at the Robert E. Brown Center For World Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, having previously been a visiting lecturer from 2008 to 2011.He is also the musical director and lead soloist of "Ballet Waraba" in North Carolina, "Ballet Wassa-Wassa" in Santa Cruz, California, California, and "Les Percussion Malinke" in the San Francisco Bay area.