Newsletter May 2022
Here’s our latest Newsletter – May 2022. Workshop dates, kora making, gigs and more
Read More Newsletter May 2022
20% off Video Tutorials
Until end of December 2021 we are offering 20% off all of our Video Tutorials and bundles! Use the code DEC2021 at the checkout and the discount will be automatically…
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Butterfly blues
This year it is looking increasingly unlikely that any of our regular guests will be able to make it out to us in Kafountine this season. The travel restrictions, testing…
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Kafountine Bliss!
We’re back in Kafountine! Adam and I usually leave here in April and come back in October but this year everything was turned upside down, as it was for everybody. …
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Fireside Kora
Due to CoVid and various countries quarantine requirements, many of our regular students were not able to join us. Because restrictions can be applied very quickly, until we actually started…
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August Newsletter
If you don’t yet subscribe to our newsletter, please do join our mailing list and in the meantime this might make you smile! August 2020
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Missing WOMAD?
Right now we should be in a tent in the Charlton Park arboretum tuning hundreds of strings and showing festival goers how to hold and play the kora (well it…
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September Workshop confirmed
We are really pleased that we have been able to confirm the September workshop at Mas de Jammes, France. Several booking have already been made by regular students and some…
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Rainy Season Experience
Because of the CoVid travel restrictions we decided to stay here in Kafountine, Senegal rather than head back to Europe mid April as usual. This is a new experience for…
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Mandekalou – DVD
Documentary film based on the album of the same name. Recounts the CD recording by following the Western African griots’ history.
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Griot (2011)
A highly praised, celebratory documentary of the tradition by the trumpeter, composer and director Volker Goetze, colleague and friend of Senegalese Ablaye Cissoko
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Josh Doughty
Josh is Adam’s eldest son has been playing since he was around 7 yrs old, with Adam as his first teacher, then apprenticed to Toumani Diabate as a teenager. He…
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Trevor Pollard
Trevor is a UK-based artist and a friend; he regularly comes to Kafountine to spend several months in the house that he has built within our land. He started the…
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What a year so far!
We hope you’ve been able to manage OK wherever you are in the world during the CoVid19 crisis. We are still in Kafountine, Senegal where we decided to stay once…
Read More Cwm Maddoc Kora weekend
Hats off to our kora students, they manage to have a great time and learn loads, even with high winds and rain lashing down. Of course those in the yurt,…
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Afric’Arts
Cheikh Diop is Senegalese and lives in the UK. He provides vibrant African drumming and dance workshops and events.
Read More Kane Mathis
Based in the US, Kane is a professional kora and oud player. He’s helped out and performed at some of our previous workshops in the UK.
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Griots at War: Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande
Describes the griots’ skills in using history, metaphor, religion, proverbs, and praise to mend a community that had been torn apart by war. Barbara Hoffman (2001)
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The Rough Guide to West Africa
There are more specific guides such as Gambia and Senegal also available.
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Culture & Customs of Senegal
A general guide and although we think it concentrates on life in the north, rather than all of Senegal, it gives some useful insights.
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Travels in the Interior of Africa
A classic book by Mungo Park, the young Scottish explorer in 1795, surprisingly readable.
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Mande Music
Very detailed and comprehensive; a rather academic but essential reading for the serious student.
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La Pirogue (2012)
The moving story of a group of Senegalese men who set off for Europe on a simple fishing boat, hoping for a better life. A powerful depiction of a story…
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Bamako (2007)
Feature film, released at Cannes Film Festival surrounding a trial in Bamako. Deals with corruption and globalisation in relation to the current financial state of many poverty-stricken African countries. Buy…
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