‘Cory Seznec reinforces his reputation as one of the finest ‘world’ musicians out there’ R2 Magazine / Amadou Diagne- ‘sensational..startlingly good’ fRoots Magazine
34-35 Great Sutton St, Clerkenwell Ph: 020 7253 1516
Doors open 7.30 pm.
Nearest tube Farringdon, 5 mins walk.
The venue consists of seated an standing areas. Please arrive early to ensure a seat.
Tickets £10.00 adv BUY NOW / £12.00 door
This concert marks the reunion of two musicians who first met busking in Bath over a decade ago, and have each gone on to have acclaimed international careers in in roots music .
Amadou Diagne (Youssou N’Dour) is a musician who has the traditions of West Africa at his fingertips. Amadou comes from a Griot family line of percussionists and praise singers from the area around Dakar in Senegal. Though he draws heavily on the traditional music and rhythms of West Africa, since moving to England he has been busy forging his own musical identity as a singer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist. He writes and performs most of his songs in Wolof the most widely spoken language in Senegal, with some French and English in the mix. As a guitarist he has developed a unique and intricate guitar style to accompany himself which draws on his skills as a percussionist. Amadou has a love of improvisation and an eclectic musical inspiration when playing, exploring the instrument delighting in the rhythmic possibilities within the melodies he composes.
Somewhere between musical wanderer and uncertified ethnomusicologist dwells the world of Cory Seznec. A French-American musician based in Paris, Cory discovered fingerstyle guitar and clawhammer banjo during his adolescence in the US. This led to numerous travels and encounters that helped develop his sound. The discovery of African fingerstyle techniques coupled with trips to different African countries (including a three and half year stint in Ethiopia) changed everything. His style became more and more syncopated, polyrhythmic, and cross-pollinated, and his approach less and less academic. After 10 years on the road with Groanbox, Cory is focusing on his solo project and on Damakase, an Ethio-groove band with Ethiopian musicians Endris Hassen and Misale Legesse.
Together, Amadou and Cory perform a mix of west African and American music with the idea of ushering in a hybrid new roots sound based on the merging of their traditions. The result is an entrancing, groovy reverie of lilting voices, guitars, kora, banjo, bass and percussion.
For this concert, they will be accompanied by French musicians Benjamin Body on upright bass and Renaud Ollivier on calabash/percussion.
New Roots 