Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni

Bassekou is a virtuoso picker, musical visionary, and Africa's greatest instrumentalist whose work blurs the lines between West African and American Roots music, Bassekou is a true master of the ngoni, and he has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali: He played in the Symmetric trio alongside Toumani Diabate (kora) and Keletigui Diabate (balafon). He was part of Taj Mahal's and Toumani Diabete's 'Kulanjan' project, as well as being one of the key musicians on Ali Farka Toure's posthumous album 'Savane", which was released July 2006. He toured with Ali Farka Toure leaving a lasting impression on the audience as the band's solo ngoni player.

Bassekou's instrument, the ngoni, is an ancient traditional "spike lute" and an ancestor of the banjo, sharing its taut-skinned drum body, percussive attack, and varied picking techniques. Since 2005, Bassekou has led Ngoni ba, the first-ever group built around not one, but four ngoni's.
These programs are part of the McIntyre Hall Presents series, made possible by the support of Friends of McIntyre Hall, the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Skagit Regional Public Facilities District, Skagit Valley College, lodging tax funding through Skagit County, the City of Mount Vernon and the City of Burlington, and sponsorship by The Hampton Inn and Suites, Baird Private Wealth Management, Skagit Publishing, Northwest Public Radio, and Lisser & Associates.

Create Your Own Series (CYO) are available in August. Single tickets on sale September 2. Check our website for updates and more information later this month.

For tickets or more information, please visit us at www.mcintyrehall.org or call the Box Office at 360.416.7727 ext. 2. Beginning September 2, the Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday, noon – 4:00pm. McIntyre Hall is located on the Mount Vernon Campus of Skagit Valley College.