|
contents | world | |||||||||||||
| BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA Blues from Mali @ Roulette Saturday, February 17, 2024 8:00pm Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba return to Roulette after their breathtaking performance last spring. Bassekou, descended from a long line of griots (storytellers/historians), is Mali's legendary master of the ngoni, an ancient West African lute that is an ancestor of the banjo. Renowned for his innovations, he takes the ngoni into the 21st century and is credited with creating the first ensemble featuring ngonis of different sizes to provide the different 'voices' needed for the music. In his long career, he has collaborated with such musical icons as Toumani Diabate, Ali Farka Toure, Taj Mahal, Paul McCartney, Bono, Bonnie Raitt and Bela Fleck, and toured the world with his powerful Ngoni Ba ensemble. Amy Sacko, Bassekou's wife, performs lead vocals and has been called the "Tina Turner of Mali." In addition, Ngoni Ba features Bassekou's brother Moctar Kouyate calebasse (gourd), his son Mamadou Kouyate (ngoni bass), and his nephew Mahamadou Tounkara (yabara, tama (talking drum)). The concert will include selections from Bassekou's last album, Miri (2019), which was one of the Best Albums of the Year in Songlines magazine and ranked #1 in the world music charts in Europe in February and March of 2019. Blues from Mali Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba "the world's greatest exponent of the ngoni….exhilarating…magnificent" -The Guardian "Ngoni virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate can make notes bend like light rays in the desert heat." - Time Out write your comments about the article :: © 2024 Jazz News :: home page |