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London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
Description: The blues banjo player presents his new project, Recapturing The Banjo playing a mix of American and African influenced tunes. Other performers include Alvin Youngblood Hart, Corey Harris, Don Vappie, Guy Davis, Bassekou Kouyate and N'Goni Ba.
Phone: 0845120 7500
Website: www.barbican.org.uk
Email: info@barbican.org.uk
Trains: Tube/BR: Moorgate/Barbican 
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 11am-8pm
Extra info: Pub, Parking, Food
Last night’s concert, headlined by American banjo player Otis Taylor, was about the African roots of the instrument — as outlined in his recent album Recapturing the Banjo.
In an ideal meeting, the first half featured Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate playing the ngoni, the banjo’s West African ancestor, with his band and wife Amy Sacko on vocals.
The ngoni is a dry, deserty lute but the charismatic Ngoni Ba quartet, plucking what looked like an assortment of different-sized cricket bats, produce a funky, richly-textured sound. Bassekou did a sublime bluesy solo in the middle — the title track of his brilliant Segu Blue album — and they were joined by harmonica player Guy Davis to bring a bluesy tone to the first-half finale.
Corey Harris started the American half brilliantly with a solo he recorded with Ali Farka Touré in Mali. His singing made the banjo-ngoni connection immediately obvious.
Then things meandered. Taylor mumbled his introductions with his face half obscured by a baseball cap. Only Corey Harris and Don Vappie’s solos made the banjo sound like a memorable evolution from the ngoni.
Bassekou added magic to the final songs and everyone joined for an encore as Taylor told us “the banjo came from Africa”. We were glad the Africans were there to show us that.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
