Amadou Diagne And Yakar At Belper Rugby Club. April 27th

On April 27th, at Belper Rugby Club, Live and Local present Amadou Diagne and Yakar.

Amadou Diagne is a musician who has the traditions of West Africa at his fingertips.

Amadou comes from a Griot family line of percussionists and praise singers from the area around Dakar in Senegal. His talent as a percussionist led to him becoming for many years a professional full time member of l’Orchestre National du Senegal. He performed regularly with some of the top west African stars for concerts and television and was a busy session musician on the Dakar music scene.

Though Amadou Diagne draws heavily on the traditional music and rhythms of West Africa, since moving to England he has been busy forging his own musical identity as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A multi-talented percussionist and ace guitarist his versatility and fusion of roots, jazz and rock earned him the epithet of ‘The Hendrix of the Sahara’. Indeed, Amadou backed by his all-star UK based band Yakar play an eclectic blend of Afrobeat, blues, jazz funk and Mbalax or praise singing which Amadou learned as a child coming from a Griot background.

 

Amadou writes and performs most of his songs in Wolof the most widely spoken language in Senegal, with some French and English in the mix. As a guitarist he has developed a unique and intricate guitar style to accompany himself which draws on his skills as a percussionist. Amadou has a love of improvisation and an eclectic musical inspiration when playing, exploring the instrument delighting in the rhythmic possibilities within the melodies he composes.

Amadou’s music has attracted global airplay on radio stations from Australia to Israel, Denmark and the USA as well as on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction, BBC Focus on Africa TV/Radio and BBC World Service Radio.

His band Yakar, although based in the UK, come from a wide background of nationalities and musical styles with at least two being award winners and big selling artists in their own right.

Tickets are £9 (£7.50 concessions). Doors at 8.00pm. Tickets are limited and are available from Oxfam Books in King Street or contact mjones572@hotmail.co.uk.