Legendary Malian musician and ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate tours the UK for the first time as a duo with revered griot singer and exceptional vocalist Amy Sacko, following the release of their debut album Djudjon, L’Oiseau de Garana (2024).
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 has made the ngoni internationally known by adding additional strings and using effects devices. With extraordinary dexterity, he creates soundscapes that lie somewhere between blues, jazz and traditional Malian music.
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, Yossou N’Dour, The Kronos Quartet 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).
The griot couple released their first chart-topping album together in 2024; Djudjon, L’Oiseau de Garana connects past and present, and is centred on their adventurous life journey together. The Garana natives invite us on an intimate journey into their musical universe, to travel to the source where it all began for Bassekou and his other long-time companion, his ngoni. Bassekou Kouyate reveals the secrets behind the beautiful love story between himself and his instrument, whilst Amy and Bassekou sing to us about their fears and hopes for the future, give philosophical advice and offer tributes to important people of present and historical society of the Bambara Empire. New texts and re-interpretations of ancient texts feature, sung in Bambara and Peul.
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.
“The Tina Turner of Mali”- MOJO on Amy Sacko
“A genius and living proof that the blues comes from Mali” – Taj Mahal on Bassekou Kouyate
