A Think Africa conversation with Bassekou Kouyate:
Bassekou Kouyate in concert, playing his ngoni. Photograph taken by Michal Jaskolski in 2009.
The 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.
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