Fringe 2024 Seckou Keita – Homeland Band Queen's Hall 9th August Review
Seckou Keita Homeland Band at the Queen’s Hall tonight was for me a step into the unknown, as I have to admit that I get the opportunity to review authentic African music, and in this case Senegalese, all too infrequently. There is just so much that I do not know about this culturally diverse music, but thankfully Seckou Keita is a good guide and cultural ambassador of his music.
Seckou Keita Homeland Band
Nicknamed 'the Hendrix of the Kora', Seckou has earned this reputation for fusing together the different regional styles of this instrument whilst also exploring his own unique tunings on it and the end result is a sound that has no easy to attribute labels. Seckou Keita is a musician who crosses multiple genres and is equally at home with Jazz, Fusion, traditional African music, or any other music he chooses to play. To Seckou Keita, music is simply music.
Reviewing any concert that is sung in another language from your own is always a problem if you do not understand it, but for the most part, clear introductions from Seckou outlined what the music was about. Here songs of celebrating just being alive, concerns for the environment and hopes for a NEW Africa were given Seckou Keita Homeland Band’s high energy performance and it was clear just how talented every musician in this band is in their own right and how intricately interwoven their music is.
Seckou Keita Homeland Band are obviously used to performing for live audiences where them being on their feet and dancing is the norm, and in the limited spaces available at this venue, that is exactly what everyone was invited to do this evening, if they wanted. The result was a party atmosphere to the whole evening where everyone, whether up dancing or just sitting and enjoying the music, was simply there to have a good evening out. This was a relaxed atmosphere of fun and the band and audience just enjoying being together to celebrate one thing – the music.
Towards the end of this show, Seckou gave us all a quick introduction to his instrument of choice, the Kora. Probably the best way to describe this instrument, which typically has 21 strings and is played by plucking them with the thumb and fingers, is as a combination of a lute and a harp. Like a harp, bass and melody strings are played with different hands.
Giving much of the music tonight a very distinctive sound was one of Senegal's best known vocalists, N'Dyeye Korka Dieng. The Homeland Band is also comprised of some of the best known musicians of their respective styles, and included
Moustapha Ngaye: guitar
Ernest Basse: Keyboards & samplings
Mouctar N'Diongue: drum kit , drum pad and backing vocals
Modou Gueye: bass: backing vocals
Dialy Kemo Cissokho: percussion and backing vocals
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Seckou Keita Homeland Band
Nicknamed 'the Hendrix of the Kora', Seckou has earned this reputation for fusing together the different regional styles of this instrument whilst also exploring his own unique tunings on it and the end result is a sound that has no easy to attribute labels. Seckou Keita is a musician who crosses multiple genres and is equally at home with Jazz, Fusion, traditional African music, or any other music he chooses to play. To Seckou Keita, music is simply music.
Reviewing any concert that is sung in another language from your own is always a problem if you do not understand it, but for the most part, clear introductions from Seckou outlined what the music was about. Here songs of celebrating just being alive, concerns for the environment and hopes for a NEW Africa were given Seckou Keita Homeland Band’s high energy performance and it was clear just how talented every musician in this band is in their own right and how intricately interwoven their music is.
Seckou Keita Homeland Band are obviously used to performing for live audiences where them being on their feet and dancing is the norm, and in the limited spaces available at this venue, that is exactly what everyone was invited to do this evening, if they wanted. The result was a party atmosphere to the whole evening where everyone, whether up dancing or just sitting and enjoying the music, was simply there to have a good evening out. This was a relaxed atmosphere of fun and the band and audience just enjoying being together to celebrate one thing – the music.
Towards the end of this show, Seckou gave us all a quick introduction to his instrument of choice, the Kora. Probably the best way to describe this instrument, which typically has 21 strings and is played by plucking them with the thumb and fingers, is as a combination of a lute and a harp. Like a harp, bass and melody strings are played with different hands.
Giving much of the music tonight a very distinctive sound was one of Senegal's best known vocalists, N'Dyeye Korka Dieng. The Homeland Band is also comprised of some of the best known musicians of their respective styles, and included
Moustapha Ngaye: guitar
Ernest Basse: Keyboards & samplings
Mouctar N'Diongue: drum kit , drum pad and backing vocals
Modou Gueye: bass: backing vocals
Dialy Kemo Cissokho: percussion and backing vocals
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com