The Successors of the Mandingue are an impressive band – each masters of their craft, featuring traditional West African instrumentation, infectious rhythms, explosive dance moves, and mesmerising melodies. These standard bearers of authentic Mandinka culture share their heritage through joyful performances that will get everyone moving.Each artist is a star in their own right, steeped in the West African griot (or djeli) bardic tradition of preserving the stories and histories of its people through music, dance, and song as they have been passed down from generation to generation. Each is also an adventurer that has struck out to share their arts with new audiences, telling their tales in new locations, whilst simultaneously learning and adapting to the cultures of their new homes, precipitating unique modern fusions. Hailing from Guinea, Senegal, The Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso; their musical vocabularies are rooted in the same shared ancient traditions that spanned the ancient Mandingue Empire. The sheer power and energy of their sets wow audiences wherever they go. Get caught up in a voyage to West Africa and back – we promise you will leave smiling!
For Dathliad Cymru-Affrica 2023 a special collaboration was commissioned between N’famady Kouyaté (Artistic Director of The Successors of the Mandingue) and Eve Goodman to bring the folk traditions of West Africa and Wales together in a single piece, celebrating the ancient cultural traditions and languages of their countries of origin. N’famady and Eve first met when they both represented Wales at Celtic Connections 2022 in Glasgow and we are so excited to see and hear the work they have created – see the video below.