BEMIS @ Celtic Connections 2022

N’famady Kouyate and BEMIS

Please note that the updated main artist for this show is N’famady Kouyate. Unfortunately, Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy are unable to perform.

N’famady Kouyaté is a young energetic master musician from Guinea (Conakry), who relocated to Cardiff (Wales) in 2019. A talented multi-instrumentalist who wowed audiences across the UK and Ireland during autumn/winter 2019/20 with his modern interpretations of traditional West African Mandingue songs and rhythms supporting Gruff Rhys on the Pang! album tour. N’famady’s primary instrument is the balafon – the traditional wooden xylophone, sacred to West African culture and his family heritage of the griot/djeli. In Guinea he founded ‘Les Héritiers du Mandingue’ a tradi-modern group that toured extensively in West Africa.

The 2022 Celtic Connections in the Community programme culminates with tonight’s grand multi-cultural finale, which sees local performance groups sharing the stage with a leading international artist. A partnership with BEMIS, Scotland’s support body for the ethnic minority voluntary sector, the project is supported by the Scottish Government as part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals. Prior to the show, professional musicians have worked with organisations from Glasgow’s Roma, African, Irish and Arab communities, who’ll each perform here, collectively celebrating the rich contributions of new Scots to our contemporary cultural landscape.