Adventures in Music Amazing West Africa with Seckou Keita - The Box, Plymouth

Aimed at pre-school children and their carers. Join kora maestro and outstanding percussionist Seckou Keita who will lead an interactive performance that you can join in with! Seckou will guide you as you sing and create rhythms together. He will also introduce you to the music and instruments of his homeland Senegal, including African harp – the kora, and African drum - the djembe.

Tickets are £4.50 per adult, and £3 for each child. Tickets are available to purchase online at www.wegottickets.com. You can also buy them from our Welcome Desk by cash or cheque (made payable to ‘Plymouth City Council’). Our workshops often get booked up very quickly so please don’t delay if you want to make sure you’ve got a place! We regret that we’re unable to accept cheques for less than £10 or any card payments. All children must be accompanied by a responsible, paying adult. Please note that tickets are non-refundable.

About our artist

Seckou Keita is one of the leaders of the newest generation of African traditional musicians, fusing the traditional forms and instruments with those of other cultures.

As a member of the royal Keita dynasty from Mali, his lofty birth might have prevented him from becoming a jali or griot, a traditional West African praise singer, were it not for the fact that he was raised by his mother's family, the Cissokhos, who were renowned griots from Senegal. Seckou learned the kora in the bosom of his family but he also developed a remarkable flair for drumming and percussion early in life. He started to perform at the age of seven, with his famous uncle Solo Cissokho, and by twelve he had his own band.

In 1996, Seckou left Africa for Scandinavia where he continued to perform at festivals with musicians from the world over. In 1998 he moved to the UK and became a member of Bath based global fusion pioneers Baka Beyond. Seckou recorded his debut album Baiyo, which means Orphan, which was released in the summer of 2000 and went on to impress audiences throughout Europe as a solo artist, earning a nomination from BBC Radio 3 listeners for a World Music Award in 2001 and support slots to luminaries Salif Keita and Youssou N'Dour.

Seckou formed the Seckou Keita Quartet in 2004 (expanding later to a quintet) to wide acclaim and continued to tour worldwide, performing more than 400 concerts in 30 countries. Two albums from this line-up were released on Afro-Mandinka.

This event is part of the Adventures in Music series, which is supported by PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Plus…UK.