Thur 19 June
N'Faly Kouyate & Dunyakan plus DJ Bush Telegraph
Exeter Phoenix 8pm, £12 (£10 concs.)
Guinea's N'faly Kouyate is perhaps best known as a key member of AfroCelt Soundsystem, although his deft and dazzling kora playing has also been heard on releases by Alan Stivell and Robert Plant.
Sheer joy in making music shines through the broad smile of N'Faly Kouyate as he and his ensemble Dunyakan (The Voice of the World) mix traditional West African storytelling with jazz, rock, blues, world music, and sweet Mandingue sounds.
Established African instruments like the djembé, kora, and balafon combine with western double bass and drums in powerful rhythms that stir the blood. This exciting cultural explosion draws on the Caribbean-flavoured rhythms & melodies of Guinean traditional dance music.
"N'Faly Kouyate's animated chanting and finger picking on the kora, a 21-string African instrument, was a show stopper." Irish Voice