2009 BBC3 World Music Award Winner: Album of the Year ('Segu Blue') and Best African Act; Nominee for Best Newcomer

“To all the rock ‘n’ rollers of the USA, I’m coming in February, 2010!”

That’s Malian maestro Bassekou Kouyate with a heads-up well worth heeding. A virtuoso picker and musical visionary whose work blurs the lines between West African and American roots music, Bassekou has jammed with Bonnie Raitt and Bono, and won praise from Eric Clapton. He’s also dug into blues and country music with Taj Mahal and created freewheeling improvisations with banjo maverick Bela Fleck. Bela featured him in his film Throw Down Your Heart. The soundtrack album and the title track (performed by Bassekou) were nominated for Grammy’s this year in the Best Contemporary World Music Album and Best Pop Instrumental Performance categories. Bassekou Kouyate is one of Mali's best-known Ngoni players. 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 ngonis—all played by members of his family. The group’s second CD I Speak Fula was released on Sub Pop in February 2010, coinciding with Bassekou’s first U.S. tour as a headliner.

"They just keep getting better. The instrumental pyrotechnics never fail to amaze. They've obviously been doing some technical work on the ngonis for improved sound - Bassekou now has a volume control!. But if the music astonishes with its ever increasing tightness, the whole visual show is just joyful too - the choreography has gone up another level. At times their synchronised footwork is like one of those great 60s soul reviews, at others they remind of the Shadows or Status Quo. All this in gold robes bathed in orange and red light, as regal as you can get, and with Ami Sacko singing up a sandstorm. Just as you think it can't get any better, Bassekou breaks out the wah-wah while the tama bubbles and burbles. Disco ngoni through a Fender amp - how cool can you get?!“ (Ian Anderson, fRoots)

 This tour is presented in collaboration with World Music Institute and is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

 Tickets are on sale now from The Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), Cedar outlets, The Walker Box Office (612.375.7600), and online at Ticketweb and The Walker.

 

Tickets: $30 advance ($25 Walker members) / $35 day of show ($30 Walker members). STANDING ROOM ONLY