He left the Niafunke group in 1975 when he won a scholarship to an agricultural college in M'Pessoba, near Koutiala in the southeast of the country. After three years of study he began working in Djenné, before returning to his home town, and the group, in 1980. In 1982 he was invited to join the Orchestre Diaba Regional from Timbuktu. In the early 1980s he formed Alkibar, and influenced by his knowledge of agriculture, used their music to communicate with people about water and irrigation.