Photos
![Siama playing guitar at his favorite spot by the Mississippi River in St. Paul, MN (photo by Dallas Johnson)](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/193894/217d54ad70b87625398dfe10f8823d0e5caaaed6/original/siama-1.jpg/!!/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIjM1MHciXV0%3D/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)
Siama playing guitar at his favorite spot by the Mississippi River in St. Paul, MN (photo by Dallas Johnson)
![Siama (middle), Kibisi Douglas (right) & the legendary Moreno Batamba in Dubai in 1994. This was taken one month before Moreno suddenly became ill and died.](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/193894/07da309fd867b891910f21382292df42ff643698/original/siama-moreno-in-dubai-1994-1-month-b4-he-died.jpeg/!!/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIjM1MHciXV0%3D/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)
Siama (middle), Kibisi Douglas (right) & the legendary Moreno Batamba in Dubai in 1994. This was taken one month before Moreno suddenly became ill and died.
![Siama grew up at Seminaire Kibula, where his father was a chef for the Jesuit priests who gave Siama his first guitar at age 12. The rest is history.](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/193894/0832cbeaf0faf89068ccf2a6f25f05eddee6e4e5/original/photo-siama-seminary-1971-the-yr-he-moved-to-kinshasa.jpg/!!/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIjM1MHciXV0%3D/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)
Siama grew up at Seminaire Kibula, where his father was a chef for the Jesuit priests who gave Siama his first guitar at age 12. The rest is history.
![Siama & Dallas hosting an Instrument Petting Zoo for Hennepin Theatre Trust's Open Streets event in 2015 (photo by Dallas Johnson)](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/193894/2292ae917a4127d7dc523673b06bbd6d082e7ba3/original/instrument-petting-zoo-open-streets-siama-and-dallas.jpg/!!/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIjM1MHciXV0%3D/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)
Siama & Dallas hosting an Instrument Petting Zoo for Hennepin Theatre Trust's Open Streets event in 2015 (photo by Dallas Johnson)
![Siama & Dallas hosting an Instrument Petting Zoo for Hennepin Theatre Trust's Open Streets event in 2015 (photo by Tim Campbell)](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/193894/a64b50a62faf006f93d9b15de463e1e201dd66ac/original/dallas-siama-at-open-streets-dt-petting-zoo-by-tim-campbell-2015.jpg/!!/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIjM1MHciXV0%3D/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)
Siama & Dallas hosting an Instrument Petting Zoo for Hennepin Theatre Trust's Open Streets event in 2015 (photo by Tim Campbell)
![Siama's Afrobilly Blue (Jacqueline Ultan, Tim O'Keefe & Dallas) performing at Como Conservatory in 2016](http://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/193894/05461bc9ca7995b20dedd012fdd14a1ae474ecf1/original/siamas-afrobilly-blue-1-2016-como-conservatory-photo-by-tom-smith.jpg/!!/b%3AW1sic2l6ZSIsIjM1MHciXV0%3D/meta%3AeyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ%3D%3D.jpg)
Siama's Afrobilly Blue (Jacqueline Ultan, Tim O'Keefe & Dallas) performing at Como Conservatory in 2016
Photos and rendering by Dallas Johnson.