Live-ish: Diabel Cissokho at Band on the Wall

During our temporary closure, we’re digging deep into the Band on the Wall archive to pick out some of our favourite recordings from gigs gone by. For our weekly Live-ish sessionwe’ll be broadcasting a full archive gig ‘as live’ for you to watch along. So tune in here at 7pm every Friday evening!

7pm Friday 15th May – Diabel Cissokho

For this week’s Live-ish show, we’re streaming a stunning live performance from Diabel Cissokho, recorded during the We Face Forward festival of African art and music at Band on the Wall back in 2012.

Part of the great line of Cissokho griots, Senegalese kora maestro Diabel Cissokho’s virtuosity and versatility on the harp-like kora is astounding. Collaborating with everyone from Kandia Kouyate and Pee Wee Ellis to bluesman Ramon Goose – and even a long stint as Baaba Maal’s kora player – Diabel’s ‘resonant voice and rocking kora style’ (Songlines) have been welcomed everywhere from WOMAD and Glastonbury to London’s Barbican. With his own four-piece band, Diabel draws on his rich musical heritage, blending bluesy West African melodies with an upbeat groove.

This stream is free to watch, but these are extremely difficult times for an independent non-profit organisation like Band on the Wall, so any and all donations are welcome and enormously helpful.

Click on the video to open in YouTube and leave us your comments!

To start the stream, hit play on the embedded YouTube Live video.