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BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA – MASTERS OF THE AFRICAN LUTE

Ethno Jazz Festival invites you to Stary Klasztor on 17 May for a concert by Mali’s BASSEKOU KOUYATE. His accompanying group, NGONI BA, are considered masters of the traditional, ancient ngoni lute, popular throughout West Africa. We will see and hear several varieties during the concert.
African-culture enthusiasts will surely remember Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba’s wonderful concert at Wrocław’s National Forum of Music in 2020. Now the artists return to Wrocław, to the atmospheric Gothic Hall of Stary Klasztor, where, alongside listening, audiences can dance to trance-inducing African sounds.

BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA – MASTERS OF THE AFRICAN LUTE
BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA – MASTERS OF THE AFRICAN LUTE

MALI’S TINA TURNER

17 May 2023

Bassekou Kouyate was born in Garana, Mali, a small, multi-ethnic village on the Niger River. In the mid-1980s, he began playing traditional sumu, through which he met other extraordinary musicians, including Toumani Diabete. In the late 1980s, Bassekou joined Toumani Diabete’s Symmetric Orchestra, with Habib Koite as singer. This trio opened the door to Europe for Bassekou, who first played Belgium in 1990. Later that same year, he embarked on his first US tour, where he met African-American blues musician Taj Mahal.

In the mid-1990s, he married Amy Sacko, whose ancestors also come from Mali. As a married couple, they released many popular records and frequently appeared on Malian television, where Amy was called the “Malian Tina Turner”.

In 2005, he joined Ali Farka Toure, played on his album and performed with him on his final tour. That same year, Bassekou decided to form his own band, Ngoni ba, a quartet of musicians playing ngoni of different sizes. This was something of an innovation, since ensembles playing this instrument usually comprise 30–40 musicians. Since forming, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba have played more than 100 concerts worldwide, from New York’s Central Park to London’s Royal Albert Hall, and from Glastonbury to Wrocław! He has shared the stage with some of the world’s best-known musicians, including Sir Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones and Damon Albarn.

TICKETS

Event details

BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA

Date

17 May 2023

19:00

Venue

STARY KLASZTOR - GOTHIC HALLul. Purkyniego 1Wrocław