Malian superstar, master of the traditional instrument the ngoni
with latest album ‘I Speak Fula’ nominated for a Grammy in 2011
(Mali)

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba at Glastonbury June 2010

www.myspace.com/bassekoukouyate
www.outhere.co.uk  (europe)
www.subpop.com  (usa) 

Bassekou Kouyate, solo, is currently on tour across the world with the Afocubism  project or touring the US with his band Ngoni Ba. 

Malian maestro Bassekou Kouyate is a virtuoso picker and musical visionary whose work blurs the lines between West African and American roots music. Bassekou’s instrument, the ngoni, is a “spike lute” and an ancestor of the banjo, sharing its taut-skinned drum body, percussive attack, and varied picking techniques. Since 2005, Bassekou has led Ngoni Ba, the first-ever group built around not one but four ngoni-all played by members of his family.

Bassekou’s longtime friend and booster Lucy Duran (a BBC radio host, record producer, and Mande music scholar) produced the band’s debut, Segu Blue. Before long, Bassekou and Ngoni Ba were touring Europe and in high demand. I Speak Fula builds on the success of Segu Blue. Its 11 tracks provide a star-studded tour of pan-Malian music, including collaborations with Toumani Diabate,  griot vocal legend Kasse Mady Diabate, master of the horse-hair soku fiddle Zoumana Tereta, and guitar phenomenon Vieux Farka Toure, Ali’s precociously talented son. The release of I Speak Fula in 2010 and Ngoni Ba’s first U.S. tour mark the latest leg of an extraordinary musical journey.

Discography

Segu Blue (2008)
I Speak Fula (2010)

“Contender for African album of the year.” (5 stars) Uncut
“This is a cracker.” (4 stars) Mojo
“Spectacular.” BBC online
“Truly irresistible.” Music Week
“Fizzes with energy.” (4 stars) Observer Music Monthly
“There’s unlikely to be a better African album this year.” (5 stars) Evening Standard
“Ferociously powerful album … Superb.” The Independent (Album of the Week)
“Soon the world will speak Fula.” Metro