BBC - Radio 3 - Womad 2004

N'FALY KOUYATE & DUNYAKAN (GUINEA)

The Manding people populate vast swathes of West Africa. Their culture is one of the richest and deepest in the region and their griots are famed far and wide. The Kouyates of Guinea are a renowned griot clan and N'Faly Kouyate has taken their skill for improvisation and kora playing, inherited from his father, Konkoba Kabinet Kouyate, to new audiences the world over.

Having performed with the University Troupe of Conakry and starting a theatre company in his native Guinea , N'Faly moved to Brussels in 1996 where he formed his own group, Dunyakan 'the Voice of the World'. He also launched an educational and community initiative called Namunkanda ('Defence of Culture') which he runs with his wife, Muriel Finet Kouyate. Since 1997, N'Faly has been a permanent member of the Afro-Celts, contributing kora and voice to many of their award winning albums and performing live with them on stage throughout the world. Dunyakan make music with the traditional instruments of West Africa like the kora, djembe and balafon, but also integrate the 'western' sound of the bass and drums. Their inspiration comes from jazz, traditional West African story-telling, rock and the sweet polyphonies of N'Faly 's native Guinea. It's a potent mix and N'Faly is a tireless advocate of his own Manding roots, and West African music in general.

Courtesy of Andy Morgan, July 2004

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Tell us what you think:

Mark, Malta
I saw N'faly perform with Renzo Spiteri a reknowned local percussionist. It seemed as if they knew each other since ever and not just a couple of days. N'faly's great presence,in it's simplicity, added a touch of spice and color

rwignall cornall
two years on and his show still uplifts me

Chris
Saw N'faly play in Inverness at Tartan Hearts Fringe Festival.. you'll never meet a nicer guy and he uplifted my day with his music.

Karen, Antwerp
I saw n'Faly Kouyate at Couleur Café 2005 festival in Brussels and he was great!! He smiled the whole time and made everybody happy! And the music was so beautiful..

Geert from Brussels
How can so called big artists do so poor performances with badly tuned vocal parts & overran high tempo's and out of tune instrumentstrying to play a poor mix of bad played reggae some poor rap and out of key pop be yourself and play your own music

Rachel, London
I went to N'Faly Kouyate's workshop and was completely mesmerised by his energy and enthusiasm. The kora was like a second voice for him (when he laughed he played all these little ripply notes up and down the strings!). The concert showed a more funky side to him - versatility is obviously one of his strengths. Utterly inspiring.

Anke, Reading
Brilliant show. It was the first one I saw and I still think it was the best. The band had an amazing energy and everyone danced like crazy. \o_ to the two other girls just to the left of the stage - we should form a group really! :)