NURU KANE

Nuru Kane was born in the Senegalese capital of Dakar in the 1970s. He migrated to Paris in the 1990s where his multi-instrumentalism as a guitarist, bass player and singer put him in high demand both as a solo artist and as a guest for other ensembles.

However it was a trip to Morocco that exposed him to the music of the Gnawa (religious and social organizations that comprise of descendants of those West Africans who were brought as captives and slaves across the Sahara to Marrakech many centuries ago). The music of the Gnawa captivated Nuru to such an extent that it became the turning point in his musical career and has since come to define his unique sound.

Nuru left Morocco with the Guimbri (three stringed bass lute also known as the Sintir) and returned to Paris where he formed his own ensemble named ‘Bayefall Gnawa’ whose music reflects the meeting between North and West African musical styles. Byefall Gnawa consists of Djeli Makan Sissoko on n’goni and tama and Thierry Fournel on oud, guitar and sanza.

In 2004 the ensemble was invited to perform at Mali’s legendary ‘Festival In The Desert’, and their impressive performance led to an invitation from the UK’s Riverboat Records to record an album. Out of this Nuru’s debut album Sigil was born, which seamlessly blends the sounds of the North African Gnawa with that of the Senegalese, whilst lyrically focusing on religious teachings, human emotions, morality, and the impact of colonization and violence.