Bassekou Kouyaté

This week, Jon Pareles, the chief pop critic for The Times, discusses albums he's written about in this Sunday's Playlist column, including new recordings by these artists: - The English singer and composer Laura Mvula, whose ambitious first album "Sing to the Moon" suggests, among other things, gospel, a cappella pop, Gil Evans, Nina Simone and ... (more)

Jon Pareles, the chief pop critic for The Times, on the English singer and composer Laura Mvula; the Malian ngoni (West African lute) player Bassekou Kouyate; and Savages, an all-female London band of post-punk revivalists.

The situation for musicians in Bamako is still difficult since the government has proclaimed a state of emergency.

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba Jama Ko (Outhere Records, 2013) With recordings Segu Blue and the Grammy-nominated I Speak Fula to his credit, Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate and his group Ngoni...

When the prickly, pointed third track Dankou arrives, almost pushing its way into the album as if running late and eager to join the fray, you don't argue.

It is sometimes said music gives voice to the concerns of a people. While this may not be as true in North American popular music as it once was in countries with a history of an oral tradition music is a key element in the telling of the people's stories.

Malian maestro Bassekou Kouyate's second album, I Speak Fula, was one of the standout albums of 2009.

Bassekou Kouyate tells Mark Hudson that there was fighting in the street as he went into the recording studio to make his latest album.

LONDON -- Sheltering from the rain in his London hotel room, Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate is a long way from his Bamako home. Casually plucking the strings of his ngoni – a West African ...

LONDON -- Sheltering from the rain in his London hotel room, Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate is a long way from his Bamako home. Casually plucking the strings of his ngoni – a West African ...

Sheltering from the rain in his London hotel room, Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate is a long way from his Bamako home. Casually plucking the strings of his ngoni – a West African ancestor of the banjo – his thoughts turn to his desert homeland.   "When you put on a concert now in Mali, al Qaida could plant bombs among lots of people... they could plant bombs there to cause an explosion," he says, explaining why Malian authorities subsequently banned all such events for three ...

Malian ngoni maestro Bassekou Kouyate has a new album titled Jama ko that is available today in Europe. The album was recorded by Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black...

Malian ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate is one of the musicians boarding ‘The Africa Express’ train, which departs London on 2nd September. He will join a lineup of musical legends, emerging...

Bassekou Kouyate is a virtuoso of the ngoni , approximating the larger kora in sound but with a tougher, more percussive edge.