A Think Africa conversation with Bassekou Kouyate:
More hereThe four-stringed lute that Kouyate plays, the ngoni, has roots that spread across the West African Sahel and as far North as the Gnawa in today’s Morocco, it holds many different names amongst the varying ethnic groups. Ngoni are perhaps the oldest of the griot instruments predating the Kora –-played by Toumani Diabate- and separated by lineage from the hunter or Donso n’goni -as heard in the music of Oumou Sangare. Of the differing names and varieties across West Africa the Mande ngoni is perhaps the most well-known and largest, making the name of Kouyate's group ‘Ngoni ba’ (Big ngoni) quite fitting.
Bassekou Kouyate in concert, playing his ngoni. Photograph taken by Michal Jaskolski in 2009.
Over the past decade Mali has produced a string of famous artists including Oumou Sangare, Rokia Traore, Fatoumata Diawara and Habib Koite. Many of these artists have created a sound that blends a western backline of drum kit, bass and electric guitar with various African instruments, such as the ngoni, kamele n’goni, djembe and balafon. Many have speculated that this is the key to Malian music’s international success.
Why have you chosen to maintain a traditional line-up of instruments in ‘Ngoni Ba’?
“For me, if I can create the sound I want with the traditional instruments of Mali I will. You see we have four different size of ngoni in the group and so we can create all the sound that we need: the bass, the medium and the high end. It is good that artists are adapting the Malian sound to western instruments, but for me I want to continue the journey of the ngoni like my father and his father before, so that it can live on.”
Born into a long lineage of Griots, Kouyate has continued the family business of his father, a well-known ngoni player, and his mother, a celebrated singer. Having collaborated on projects with Mali legends Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate, and international artists such as Taj Mahal (who also features on ‘Jama Ko’), Kouyate has returned his music to a family affair. Kouyate’s lead singer and wife, Amy Sacko, and himself, are now joined by his sons and a nephew also playing ngoni, and by his brother and nephew on percussion.
