AFROCUBISM is the all-star collaboration between Malian and Cuban musicians that famously never happened. In 1996, a group of Mali’s finest musicians were due to fly into Havana for a speculative collaboration with some of Cuba’s most brilliant singers and instrumentalists.
AFROCUBISM features Eliades Ochoa, singer of the great Buena Vista theme Chan Chan, along with ngoni lute master Bassekou Kouyate and Rail Band guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, all from he original project. Joining them are Eliades’ Grupo Patria, amongst Cuba’s longest running and most revered bands, the mercurial kora genius Toumani Diabaté, legendary Malian griot singer Kasse Mady Diabaté and the innovatory balafon player Lassana Diabaté.
With ALSARAH & THE NUBATONES, who came together out of a collective love for Nubian music and a genuine belief that soul transcends all cultural and linguistic barriers. They blend a selection of Nubian 'songs of return' from the 1970s to today with original material and traditional music of central Sudan.
