Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba - Segou to London

[James]

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba - Segou to London



Saw him at festival sur la niger this year... Love his music.

[Michel]

I love Bassekou Kouyate. But I personally hope he stops experimenting with his wah-wah and fuzz-box on the 'ngoni during some of the songs on his concerts. The instrument is beautiful by itself. By the way what is he doing in London?

[bops]

Great stuff. I can't get enough of Bassekou, Ami and Ngoni ba. I love his collaborations with Zoumana Tereta, Vieux Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, et al.

Michel, I personally enjoy his use of wah wah and distortion in his recordings, but I know what you mean. I generally think he does it tastefully, but in some live settings it can be too much. When I saw him in Chicago, a few local blues musicians joined the band about halfway through the set. It soon became less and less about the ngoni and more about the guitar.

But overall, I think he does a really good job of advancing the instrument, putting it at the forefront of a surging interest in Malian music. The effects he uses add to his mass appeal, and I would argue that's a good thing. People are starting to see that the African roots of the blues are not so distant as they once thought.