Fula Brothers

Fifteen years ago, Malian hunters harp('kamale ngoni') player Mamadou Sidibe and American guitarist Walter Strauss began their colorful cross-cultural collaboration, evolving a deep joyful music that is simultaneously ancient and fresh. Together, they weave West African hunters harp, fingerstyle guitar, vocals, and a bounty of improvisation into an ecstatic groove-based dialogue which the heart - and the feet - cannot resist.

Master kamale ngoni player, Mamadou Sidibe, is from the Wassoulou Region of Mall, West Africa. He played a groundbreaking role in the transformation of this region's music from its origins in hunters' sacred melodies - played on six string donso ngoni (hunter's harps) - to a music of philosophy, politics, and dally life. Mamadou, with artists Coumba Sidibe and Oumou Sangare, spread the new sounds through Europe, Africa, and the US.
Fingerstyle guitarist Walter Strauss's multi-layered style draws on American roots, jazz, classical, and Spanish guitar traditions, and a decades-long exploration of West African stringed instrumental music. Acoustic Guitar Magazine says his innovative approach “has managed to elevate the instrument and the genre on the whole”. He has performed from New York to Glasgow and Bamako, and his collaborators have ranged from Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate to Scottish fiddler Johnny Hardie.

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