Award-winning Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate and his band, Ngoni Ba, will perform in Carleton College’s Severance Great Hall on Tuesday, April 13 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. This not-to-be-missed performance is free and open to the public.
Ngoni Ba
Ngoni Ba features four family members playing the ngoni, a West African instrument that was the forerunner of the American banjo. Ngoni Ba is currently wrapping up a tour of North America in the wake of the release of the group’s second album, “I Speak Fula” (Sub Pop, 2010). Their first album, “Segu Blue” (Out Here Records, 2007), received positive reviews around the world, and featured Kouyate’s wife singing vocals.
Kouyate was born into a family with a long history as traditional historians and musicians, and his father was also a talented musician. Kouyate developed a unique musical technique on the ngoni, and began to incorporate blues and banjo techniques into his music after his first visit to the United States in 1990. Upon his return to his native Mali, he participated in numerous successful musical projects, including a jazz-inspired trio and Toumani’s Symmetric Orchestra, which fused griot music and global pop, and worked with giants of African music such as Ali Farka Toure. It was during this period that he conceived the idea of creating a group combining ngonis of various sizes – an idea which culminated in Ngoni Ba.
This event is sponsored by Carleton’s Humanities Center, African and African American Studies, the Committee for the Study of the Arts, and Special Projects. For further information and disability accommodations, please contact Cathy Yandell at [email protected] or (507) 222-4245.
Source: Written by Alex Korsunsky ‘12 (Carleton College)