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DATHLIAD CYMRU AFFRICA (Friday): Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba, Hanisha Solomon, Dafydd Iwan & Ali Goolyad
Ticket for all music performances at Neuadd Ogwen on Friday
Festival Commission Dafydd Iwan & Ali Goolyad
Dafydd Iwan is a renowned folk singer and politician originally from Brynamman, Carmarthenshire, now living near Caernarfon. Awarded an honorary LL.D. by the University of Wales for his contribution to Wales and the Welsh language, the singer-songwriter has released many albums, and is an author of several books. His song “Yma o Hyd” was the Welsh football team’s official song in the World Cup in Qatar.
Ali Goolyad is a poet, actor and a community activist. Born in Hargeisa, Somaliland, Ali migrated to Wales aged 1. His previous work includes writing and performing in De Gabay, (National Theatre Wales), Border Game, Storm 2, Big Democracy Project (National Theatre Wales), Borderland (Radio 4), Talking Doorsteps (Roundhouse), Mattan Injustice of a Hanged Man (BBC), and Black and Welsh (BBC Wales). Ali is a collaborator at heart and loves the version of Welsh culture he creates. A chance meeting between Ali and Dafydd in central Cardiff during the lead-up to the World Cup and a connection with the lyrics of ‘Yma o Hyd’ sparked an interest in the potential for a musical/spoken word collaboration between these two very different proud Welshmen.
Hanisha Solomon
Hanisha Solomon is an Ethiopian singer, based in London.
She is an extraordinary talent, singing in Amharic, Oromiffa & Arabic. Her music represents the beautiful and powerful sounds of Ethiopia and beyond. Her repertoire includes songs about injustice, humanity and the need for unity.
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Hailing from Mali, Bassekou Kouyate is one of the true masters of the ngoni, an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa, and is respected as one of Africa’s premier global artists.
His band, Ngoni Ba, includes ngoni players (featuring ngonis with differing tonal sizes), percussionists (talking drum, Yabara, Calebasse) and the fantastic singer Amy Sacko. Together they have revolutionised the sound of the ngoni, and radically fired centuries of griot tradition into the future. Bassekou is recognised as both an innovator and a stronghold of traditional Malian music, and has collaborated with the likes of Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Taj Mahal, and The Kronos Quartet, and in 2016 joined the Africa Express tour along with Damon Albarn and Paul Weller. Bassekou’s recent album “Miri” (‘dream’ in Bamana) topped the World Music Charts Europe in February 2019 and was voted “Best Album of the Year” by Songlines magazine.
Incredible dexterity and stunning music from one of Africa’s music visionaries.
“Defiant, angry new music from Mali, by the world’s greatest exponent of the ngoni, the ancient West African lute” THE GUARDIAN
