McIntyre Hall Presents: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba

Bassekou is a virtuoso picker, musical visionary, and Africa's greatest instrumentalist whose work blurs the lines between West African and American Roots music, Bassekou is a true master of the ngoni, and he has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali: He played in the Symmetric trio alongside Toumani Diabate (kora) and Keletigui Diabate (balafon). He was part of Taj Mahal's and Toumani Diabete's 'Kulanjan' project, as well as being one of the key musicians on Ali Farka Toure's posthumous album 'Savane", which was released July 2006. He toured with Ali Farka Toure leaving a lasting impression on the audience as the band's solo ngoni player.

Bassekou's instrument, the ngoni, is an ancient traditional "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's.