Afrika Festival: Live in Hertme

The annual Afrika Festival in Hertme in the Netherlands has become one of the highlights of the European festival circuit and has retained its comparatively small and intimate status. This is the first recording from the festival to be released as a CD and features sets – one from 2014 and the other from 2015 – from two West African artists. Sekou Kouyaté is a Guinean kora player from a griot family and performs regularly with New York rapper Joe Driscoll. Here he leads his own group, in which he plays kora both acoustically and amplified with modern effects pedals. He has a dynamic and versatile approach to his instrument and makes full use of his tight backing group. Tremendously crowd-pleasing, he can effortlessly switch from a big rock sound into a delicate and more traditional acoustic kora piece, such as ‘Mobeny’.

Debademba is the group led by the exceptional Malian singer Mohamed Diaby and breathtaking guitarist Abdoulaye Traoré from Burkina Faso. They are equally able to captivate their audience, whether it's with a lively boogie number or their evocative fusion of West African and Arab-Andalusian influences. A superb example of the versatility of modern West African musicians.