Bassekou Kouyate is a legendary musician from Mali, and the undisputed master of the ngoni, a traditional and historic small West African instrument somewhere between a banjo and a lute. Kouyate’s illustrious career now spans four decades and five albums during which he – and his band Ngoni Ba – have toured the world to critical and commercial acclaim, and has featured collaborations with, amongst many more, Taj Mahal, Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate and Damon Albarn. In this, his latest project – visiting the UK for the first time – Bassekou performs as a duo with his wife, the revered griot singer and exceptional vocalist Amy Sacko, whose “voice of spearing urgency, improbable range” has “a power that jolts like electric shocks” (The Sydney Morning Herald). After the release of Djudjon, L’Oiseau de Garana (2024) their first chart-topping album together as a duo which connects past and present, this will be a unique, intimate and extraordinary opportunity to experience a performance that reaches to the very heart of Mali – deeply personal, expressive, chamber-style that promises a rare closeness between artists and audience, a space where each note and lyric resonates deeply.
