African Soul Rebels brings a powerful celebration of contemporary African music to Edinburgh, led by West African collective Les Amazones d’Afrique and Malawian musician Gasper Nali.
Les Amazones d’Afrique was formed in Bamako, Mali, in 2014 by musicians and campaigners Mamani Keïta, Oumou Sangaré and Mariam Doumbia. The collective has since expanded to include women from across Africa and the African diaspora, combining musical traditions with contemporary production and a commitment to the rights and voices of women and girls.
Their music moves confidently between heritage and modern African sounds, demonstrating that African musical traditions are living forms of culture rather than something belonging solely to the past.
Gasper Nali brings a very different sound from Malawi.
At the centre of his performance is the babatoni, a homemade, three-metre-long, one-string bass instrument played using a stick and bottle. Nali combines it with percussion and infectious rhythms rooted in the kwela tradition, creating music that is both highly distinctive and immediately danceable.
Together, the artists make African Soul Rebels particularly well suited to October.
Black History Month provides an opportunity not only to examine histories of migration, colonialism and resistance but also to celebrate the extraordinary variety of contemporary African creativity.
African music has continually travelled, changed and influenced other cultures, feeding into genres heard throughout Britain and across the wider African diaspora.
This Usher Hall concert places African artists themselves at the centre of that story.
With powerful voices, rhythm, traditional instruments and modern production, African Soul Rebels promises an evening celebrating African creativity, resistance, innovation and joy.
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