Consider the musical highlights of Oxfordshire: sweet-voiced choristers, peels of churchbells, fine orchestras and up-and-coming rock bands.

But the county is also home to something altogether more exotic - the lilting traditional melodies of the West African kora.

For the past five years one of the instrument's greatest exponents has been living and playing right here in the county.

And he has made it his mission to spread awareness of this most divine of stringed instruments - which is more at home beside the River Niger than the Thames.

His name is Jali Fily Cissokho, he comes from Senegal, and he is the latest in a long line of esteemed musician-poets. Oh, and he lives in Witney.

Long a familiar sound to shoppers in the west Oxfordshire market town, where he can often be found busking, 'Fily' - as he is known to his friends - has also graced the stages of some of the best festivals in the country, including Glastonbury, WOMAD, Larmer Tree and this year's Wychwood.

This weekend he packs up his kora - a 21-stringed harp-like instrument made of wood, fishing line and calf hide - and heads to Steventon to play the annual Truck Festival.

"I am really looking forward to it," he says. "Wychwood was great. It was a really nice festival with a wonderful audience, and I'm sure Truck will be too."

Fily, 37, who hails from the fertile Casmance region of southern Senegal, is a native Mandinka speaker, also fluent in French. He also happens to be a 'griot' - a member of an hereditary musician family whose ancestors once played for the royal family of Mali.

In West Africa, griots are special people, famed for their poetic prowess and wisdom, as well as their spiritual qualities.

Basically, he was born to play. And he has never forgotten it.

"I've been playing the kora since I was six-years-old," he explains.

"When I grew up it was all around me. My mother, father, sister and brother all play it, and I've never stopped.

"It's in my blood."

So, to those who have perhaps never heard a kora, what is its appeal?

"People love the music," he says, in his lilting accent, throwing in the occasional well-chosen French phrase.

"People are interested in African music, and this is a beautiful instrument. C'est tres interessant. It is complicated though. I play my own compositions, traditional songs, and songs my father taught me."

He admits people are often shocked to discover he lives not on the edge of the Sahara, but on the fringes of the Cotswolds.

"They are surprised that I live in Witney," he says. "They think I am making a joke and can't figure out why I am here."

The reason he is here, of course, is his wife and manager Christine, whom he met after a show at Oxford's Pegasus Theatre, where he was playing along with his family. He was living in London at the time.

"I've played lots of festivals, but not Truck," he adds.

"My first was Glastonbury, where I played with Toumani Diabaté, from Mali, and Baaba Maal, from Senegal, who are both very famous. It was very nice - though it was raining and freezing cold, which was terrible as I don't like just sitting in my tent. It was very different to Senegal!"

He has also rubbed shoulders with iconic of Senegalese artist Youssou N'Dour.

Truck organiser Robin Bennett said: "It's amazing to have Fily play Truck Festival. It's incredible that a musician of his calibre lives here too. It's like finding out John Lee Hooker lives in Witney!"

So how does Fily feel about his Truck debut?

"As griots we play every celebration in Senegal," he says. "We play weddings, the end of Ramadan... in fact, any party. So I am very excited about Truck. And although I usually play solo, I also like a jam. I hope people come along and learn something new. Beinvenue!"

Jali Fily Cissokho plays Truck Festival on Sunday. For ticket details, see opposite.

His second album Doumajoulo will be on sale at the festival.