Nuru Kané - Sénégal

Nuru is a singer and a songwriter, a guitarist and a guimbri player. He also leads the band Bayefall Gnawa. The members were from Algeria , France & Senegal . The whole set was sung, I believe in Senegalese and maybe a little French. This did not matter one bit. The infectious music and the passion that oozed from these guys was amazing.

The first song they played together was a reggae style with beautiful harmonised vocals from the whole band. Each musician was cocooned in an indulgent musical frenzy, but at the same time it was as if they were one person. I have never seen a band, of any genre, that was so united when they play together. After the reggae style song there came a faster, funkier one. Tribal and infectious which involved Nuru and his fellow musicians having “dance offs” which were both heart-warming and hilarious. Nuru involved the audience throughout, getting us to clap along and shout out words to the songs in his language. At times I wished we weren’t so British and that the Stables was not seated! I longed to get up, as a couple did at the end, and I commend them, so did the band! The rest of the set involved the members swapping roles, changing instruments & vocal leads.

It was amazing to see how many styles of music were played from what looked like hand-made instruments. I later found out, when I met the band, that the instruments were hand-made, but not by them! The styles of music ranged from jazz to samba, blues to folk & reggae. The different sounds that came from the instruments were unbelievable, such as one of the guitars that sounded like a sitar and the Gourd that made a wicked bass drum! Nuru’s voice was unique with a hint of Marley, Lenny Kravitz, Hendrix & Jeff Buckley.