This is a past event.
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Dusu Mali Band
Price: $18-20
To the untrained eye, it appears that Malian maestro Bassekou Kouyate is spiritedly picking at some sort of elongated winter squash that has been bedecked with unthinkably taut strings, prepared to snap at the slightest pluck. This instrument is called an ngoni, and it's one of the banjo's African ancestors. It's clear, though, that our clumsy, American version can't quite accommodate the sort of delicate fury that is emitted from this rather emotive, haplessly shrill acoustic instrument, especially when at the mercy of Kouyate's skilled hands. He and his band, Ngoni Ba—which features the clarion vocals of Kouyate's wife and other various and incredibly gifted family members—released their second album, I Speak Fula, with Seattle's Sub Pop late in 2009 and have since been trudging from continent to continent, spreading their exhilarating African music. It doesn't matter that you (presumably) do not speak Fula; anyone with a soul is hopelessly susceptible to the bare fuses of Kouyate's live performance, regardless of their linguistic prohibitions. RAQUEL NASSER
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Mississippi Studios
- 3939 N Mississippi, Portland North OR 97227
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288-3895
- www.mississippistudios.com/
- (based on 15 user reviews)
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