Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba, Union Chapel

Mali may be a country racked by conflict, but it has also managed to produce some of the world’s most life-affirming music. And Bassekou Kouyate, the virtuoso ngoni player, has long been one of the brightest stars on this vibrant scene, collaborating with other greats such as Toumani Diabaté, Youssou N’Dour and the late Ali Farka Touré. It would be a tremendous mistake not to see him when he makes rare visit to Britain with his band, Ngoni Ba, to play at Islington’s Union Chapel.

The ngoni, for those unfamiliar with it, is an ancient West African stringed instrument, of which the banjo is thought to be a distant descendant. Providing a link between Mali’s indigenous music culture and that of the West, it’s an instrument especially well suited to the work of Kouyate and his band, which blends the songs of their ancestors with blues, jazz and even a touch of rock. In total there are four ngoni players in the band (whose name means “Big Ngoni”), accompanied by a percussionist, a vocalist and sometimes a guest or two. 

The result is music of astonishing vitality, packed with hypnotic riffs, scorching rhythms and bursts of musical pyrotechnics from Kouyate, a true master of his instrument. In his hands, the ngoni can evoke the gentle flow of the kora – the African lute – as well as the raucous twang of the banjo. In recent years he’s been known to wire it up to a wah-wah pedal. 

Much of the material for the evening will be drawn from Kouyate’s latest album, Jama Ko. It was recorded last year, in the same week that Mali suffered yet another military coup. The instability since then has hit musicians hard: in the Islamist-controlled areas of the country, there have been attempts to ban them from performing, and elsewhere concerts have been cancelled as a “security measure”. Times are tough. But it’s telling that the title of Kouyate’s album translates as “big gathering of people”. That faith in the unifying power of music will no doubt shine triumphantly at this unmissable gig.