Malian legend Bassekou Kouyate leads his band Ngoni Ba at Subterania to play his new album and to carry on his lifelong ambition to share and promote the West African instrument, the ngoni.
Subterania, a small venue in West London, welcomes one of the world’s best ngoni players. Bassekou Kouyate is one of the biggest names in African music, and his talent is for making contemporary music with the small stringed instrument from West Africa. Albums like Ba Power and I Speak Fula provide us with some of the most interesting and rocky Malian blues ever made on the Ngoni.
The tour, starting in January, will promote the release of Kouyate’s fifth album, Miri, an album that will home in even further on modern Malian culture and address some of the issues caused by climate change in West Africa. Kouyate’s aim throughout his career has been to celebrate and share the power of the Ngoni; this album plans to keep this up.
Kouyate’s band has three Ngoni players, all playing different sized instruments and creating a diverse pallet of sound, allowing the songs to quickly change tone and style without losing the core narrative within the music while playing as much ngoni as possible.
If previous albums are anything to go by, this will be an amazing chance to dance and enjoy some new music from one of the world’s masters of his instrument.
Rendez-vous with Lucas Keen for an appointment to meet the little boat shaped lute played across the West African Sahel since the time of Mansa Musa. Hear the story of the djeli n’goni, get the job description for a griot, and learn where this iconic instrument which is the…
Artists: Baaba Maal , Bassekou Kouyate , Djenba Seck , Lucas Keen , Mansour Seck , Rokia Traoré
Let’s bring our clocks and calendar pages forward, just enough to reach the 20th of June, where, at the Royal Albert Hall, Jubilee will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Aga Khan cultural and civic commitment with an inspiring night of music. The show, produced by Serious, together with the…
Artists: Bassekou Kouyate , Kronos Quartet , Master Musicians Of The Aga Khan Music Initiative
The concept behind the AfroCubism collaboration is to celebrate and unite some of Mali and Cuba’s hottest musicians and to explore their shared spirit of Afro-Cuban soul. In the Sixties, socialist Mali politics had close links to those of the new communist Cuban government, creating strong ties between the two…
Artists: Afrocubism , Bassekou Kouyate , Hammadi Valdés , Piki Bosh , Seckou Keita , Yelfris Valdés
In the dark and dingy environment of Islington’s Electrowerkz Mali’s ngoni master Bassekou Kouyaté and his family band Ngoni Ba took to the stage to dazzle the audience with their dexterity and musical traditions. For the uninitiated, the Ngoni is the African precursor of the banjo and guitar dating back…
Artists: Bassekou Kouyate , Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Looks like you may have an error in your headline. This gig is listed on the Subterania site as being on Sunday 27th. Best wishes, Duncan
Thanks for your message Duncan and you’re totally right. Just edited.