Announcing – Dathliad Cymru-Affrica!

📣🌟 We are so pleased to announce that our ambitious and exciting pan-Wales collaboration project – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿‘Dathliad Cymru-Affrica’ 🌍 – has been successful in securing Arts Council of Wales Connect & Flourish funding. This two-year project brings together artists, promoters/venues, & audiences to celebrate and appreciate the arts of African practitioners and the African diaspora in Wales by developing a multi-venue Wales-Africa festival concept.

We’ll be kicking off this summer by bringing Fatoumata Kouyaté Djéliguinet’s internationally renowned Troupe Djeliguinet (Troupe Djely Guine de Guinée.– see below) to perform and deliver workshops at events across Wales this August – watch this space for updates and call-outs for artist-collaborators, partner venues, workshop participants, and a dedicated project manager! Big thanks to our core partners Neuadd Ogwen, Bethesda, BACA, and Rahim El Habachi for sharing our vision!🌟

Fatoumata Kouyaté (known internationally as the artist Djeliguinet) leads the group Troupe Djeliguinet.  Djeliguinet is a renowned Guinean singer-songwriter, and has wowed festivals all over Africa and around the world.  ‘Djeliguinet’ means griot-woman in the Susu and Malinké languages of West Africa.  Fatoumata Djeliguinet is a woman overflowing with energy and skill in traditional instruments such as the balafon, djembe, kora, krin, and bolon.
At a very young age she learned her craft at her father’s (Ousmane Kouyaté, balafon master) side, and grew up immersed in ancient musical tradition forming her own unparalleled musical versatility and artistic ingenuity.  In turn she has passed this most precious heritage to her eight children (five daughters and three sons), with whom she shares the stage and her passion for traditional instruments.  Djeliguinet’s determination and talent has seen her ascend to be a respected artist in the male dominated music scene of West Africa, breaking barriers and shattering stereotypes, paving the way for her all-woman family super-group Djeliguinet et ses Enfants (Djeliguinet and her children) featuring her sister and four of her daughters.

 

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