N’Famady Kouyate Band, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 30/11/2024.

N’Famady Kouyate – balafon, vocals, electric guitar, Kumar Chopra – electric guitar, Timmy Boomer – keyboards, Will Davies – electric bass, Alex Tabero – drums

N’Famady Kouyate hails from Conakry in Guinea, West Africa but has been based in Cardiff since 2019. He is a virtuoso performer on the balafon, the wooden xylophone indigenous to West Africa, which features wooden bars above a bed of dried gourds, these helping to amplify the instrument’s sound.

Kouyate is also a skilled and confident vocalist, largely singing in the Mandinka language, but during his time in Cardiff he has absorbed something of the local culture and sometimes sings in Welsh. This is reflected in the title of his four track EP “Aros I Fi Yna” (“Wait For Me There”), which was released in 2021.

Kouyate also plays guitar and composes his own material and he has established a burgeoning following on the UK music scene for his exciting live performances. His sound mixes West African sounds with jazz and rock and he has appeared at such diverse events as London Jazz Festival and the Celtic Connections folk festival in Glasgow.

I first became aware of Kouyate’s music through jazz drummer Ryan Thrupp, a regular presence on the Jazzmann web pages. Thrupp is the former drummer in Kouyate’s band and in 2023 alerted me to the fact that the band were to feature on TV as part of the BBC’s Glastonbury Festival coverage. They played a short set at the BBC’s acoustic tent / stage, Jo Whiley may have been hosting, although I can’t quite recall. What I do remember is being hugely impressed by the performance, which featured some great playing and singing from Kouyate as he really ‘seized the moment’, and it was good to see my friend Ryan on TV too. It was the best thing I saw from Glastonbury all weekend.

After this ‘Glasto’ performance I was determined that I should catch Kouyate playing live. Despite his Cardiff base being relatively local to me the chance didn’t come for over a year when he played a short solo set at St. Mary’s Church as part of the 2024 Brecon Jazz Festival, a twenty minute performance that both thrilled and charmed those that were there. My account of this event can be found as part of my Festival coverage here.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/brecon-jazz-festival-2024-main-weekend-friday-9th-august-2024

It was at this time that I found that Kouyate would be returning to Brecon later in the year to play a full length set at The Muse in the company of his full band. This was the final date of a UK wide tour and of course the opportunity was too good to miss. My thanks are due to Ruth Gibbs of The Muse for providing me with a press ticket for this event, and although publication of my review has been delayed due to a backlog of EFG London Jazz Festival coverage I hope she’ll agree that the wait was worth it.

I arrived at the advertised time of 7.30, but even though the band didn’t take to the stage for another hour I didn’t mind too much as we were entertained by some banging African sounds on the PA courtesy of DJ Herdsman.

Kouyate is a colourful and flamboyant performer with energy to burn and the four other band members came on first, jamming loosely before establishing a highly rhythmic groove that represented the sonic backdrop for Kouyate’s grand entrance. He really is a born showman and on taking to the stage attacked the balafon with great physicality, soloing in dazzling fashion. The mallets were big and looked heavy and Kouyate struck the bars hard. He played with two mallets throughout, there was no delicate four mallet Gary Burton vibraphone stuff here, I doubt whether it’s even possible to deploy four mallet techniques on the balafon. When Boomer took a keyboard solo, deploying an electric piano sound, Kouyate was down on the floor among the crowd, encouraging the dancers. The venue had provided a thoughtful mix of some seating combined with a substantial dance floor area. It was a format that appeared to work very well, so congratulations to Ruth and her team for organising that.

The first number had been titled “N’na Jely” and following this Kouyate told us something about the balafon, holding one up to demonstrate. Like the South African marimba they come in different keys, so he had more than one instrument with him. The next tune, “Balfo Douma” appears on the EP and is a celebration of the instrument. This was performed by Kouyate, both playing balafon and singing.

This was followed by a full band version of the same song, this time incorporating a synth solo from Boomer on his Novation keyboard plus a stinging guitar solo from the excellent Kumar Chopra. As Chopra soloed Kouyate draped his arm around him, Bowie and Ronson style.

Chopra is a graduate of the Jazz Course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and had previously performed at The Muse in 2018 as part of saxophonist Josh Heaton’s Mouth of Words band during the course of an RWCMD jazz showcase. The following year he played a high profile gig at Brecon Jazz Festival at the Guildhall alongside the great German jazz organist Barbara Dennerlein. In the intervening years Chopra has continued to mature and his contribution this evening was excellent throughout.

The lyrics to the title track of Kouyate’s EP are in both Mandinka and Welsh. On a song that combined vibrant rhythms with uplifting melodies the charismatic Kouyate had no difficulty in persuading the Brecon audience to sing along with the “Aros I Fi Yna”, chorus, which was probably an easier ask here than at some of the English venues on the tour.

The main songs on a set list that was given to me by keyboard player Timmy Boomer, who also had the job of manning the merch desk, were punctuated by solo episodes from Kouyate, some of them freely improvised.

One such passage of unaccompanied balafon then segued into the next song, “When Is See You”, as drummer Tabero set up a sturdy rock backbeat. Guitar, bass and keys were added as Kouyate continued to play balafon and sing. Boomer subsequently emerged as the featured instrumental soloist.

Kouyate switched to electric guitar for the next solo episode, this being a song that also featured his singing as he came across like a West African version of Chuck Berry.

He remained on guitar for “Tama”, forming half of a twin rock guitar attack with the estimable Chopra. This was a high energy group performance that attracted yet more dancers to an already crowded dance-floor as Kouyate traded guitar solos with Chopra, while continuing to whip the audience into a frenzy.

Then a brief pause for breath with an unaccompanied passage of balafon, the addition of Kouyate’s vocals the representing the transition into the final number of the night, “Denmousorie”.  Again Kouyate encouraged the audience to sing along, which they did enthusiastically, with many of them still continuing to dance with abandon. This closing set piece included individual features for every member of this well-drilled quintet, including of course its irrepressible leader. The audience absolutely loved it.

Tonight’s sell out performance was a triumph for both Kouyate and The Muse. Kouyate is a brilliant instrumentalist, an assured singer and a confident and charismatic front man, his joie de vivre communicating itself to the audience. It’s all high energy stuff and there’s a high premium on showmanship and crowd pleasing, but no real compromise with regard to the actual musical content. The standard of the singing and the playing from all members of the band was excellent throughout.

But ultimately the triumph was Kouyate’s – virtuoso player, powerful singer, imaginative songwriter, charismatic front man and all round force of nature. Everybody present tonight went home with a smile on their face after one of the great nights at The Muse. An N’Famady Kouyate gig is a life affirming experience. Catch him if you can.

My thanks to Timmy and N’Famady for speaking with me after to the show and to Ruth Gibbs for inviting me to cover it. I’ve taken the liberty of lifting one of photographer Barry Hill’s superb images from The Muse Facebook page to illustrate it. Many thanks to him for that and I hope that’s OK with everybody.