When renowned slide guitarist Kevin Brown heard Moussa Kouyate, Senegalese master musician and instrument maker, sitting under a tree playing kora - a 21-stringed West African harp - to a group of small children, neither Kevin nor Moussa knew that this chance meeting would lead to two European and UK tours and a CD, "Kora Blues", featuring nine tracks composed and played by these two virtuoso musicians, released on Doo Dah Records.

Fusing the classical styles of Senegal - Moussa is descended from a family of hereditary musicians, advisors to West African royalty and holders of the music of the Mandinka people since 1235 - with slide guitar inspired by some of the masters of North American slide playing, and a profound appreciation of roots music from around the world, "Kora Blues" is an inspired and dynamic fusion - the result of two exceptional musicians from very different backgrounds working together to produce something truly beautiful.

We've also put four tracks from the album - The Shade Tree, Banjul Calling, The Thorn, and Children’s Song - on the Pineapster website. The Kouyate/Brown page can be found in the Artists’ Directory. Link below this article - discover their music and Pineapster now!

“(Moussa Kouyate’s) music has a lyrical quality, in the classical kora tradition. A very special artist, not to be missed" - WOMAD

"Kevin Brown is a fabulous steel guitar player and offers a lot more than your normal steel guitar merchant" - Mark Knopfler

Charnwood Arts and Loughborough Acoustic Club were privileged to present Kouyate/Brown as part of the "Long Journey Home" festival, an East Midlands project, part-funded by The Commonwealth Games’ Regional Arts Lottery Programme, bringing artists from diverse communities together to explore issues of community, exile, refuge and displacement.

Kouyate/Brown brought their fantastic "Kora Blues" to an enthusiatic audience at the Greyhound, Nottingham Road, Loughborough, on September 19th in a link up with the Loughborough Acoustic Club.