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Lamin Kuyateh

Lamin Kuyateh - foto Angèle Jorna
Lamin Kuyateh - foto Angèle Jorna

(Gambia, 1964) was raised on culture: as of his fifth birthday, he studied to become a kora player. He is a true "jalli" (griot), meaning someone who passes on history though song and music. The Fiscoband, which he founded in 1993, was one of the first groups to combine kora with Western instruments. Kutayeh has lived in the Netherlands since 1996, and has performed at many festivals and venues with his Jalliya Ensemble, such as at the Concertgebouw, Tivoli Vredenburg, Melkweg, Philips Cenrum and the Schiecentrale. Later, he also founded the successful ensembles Jalliyabaa and KoraFusion, in which he frequently collaborates with musicians from all kinds of disciplines. Since 2000 he has given kora lessons at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

(WN2019)

Archive available for: Lamin Kuyateh

  • Winternachten 2022

    ISS Storytelling afternoon

    With: Iman Mersal, Kees Biekart, Lamin Kuyateh, Robin Block

    On 16 June 2022, the International Institute of Social Studies was once again host the International Storytelling Afternoon. During what has become a much-loved classic at Winternachten Festival, visitors, writers, students and teachers told each other stories.

    For this edition, the stories focused around the theme Whose House Is This? Feel free to take "the house" as a metaphor and to explore it from different angles: the house of the family, the house of society, of democracy, of literature... The theme question Whose House is This? called for stories about feeling at home (or not), leaving your home, or finally finding it in an unexpected place.

    Come and listen to stories from all over the world and, if you like, share your own story!
    Maximum 5 minutes and in English only - no other rules.
    On behalf of Winternachten Festival, authors Robin Block and Iman Mersal were present and share their stories too. Kees Biekart was the moderator of the afternoon. Lamin Kuyateh provided musical interludes.

  • Winternachten 2020

    International Storytelling Symposium

    With: Asmaa Azaizeh, Kees Biekart, Lamin Kuyateh, Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ, Rosalba Icaza Garza, Zuleika Sheik

    This program at the Institute of Social Studies has become a much-loved classic at Winternachten Festival. Visitors, writers, students and teachers tell each other stories. This time around, the theme was "decolonisation", which has quickly become a key word in the world of museums, universities and society at large. But how are you dealing with this individually? How are you decolonising your thinking or your life, at your workplace or at home? What are you experiencing, and what challenges do you encounter?

    Llsten to stories from all over the world and, if you like, share your own story! Maximum 5 minutes and in English only - no other protocol. Among the participants were writer, poet, essayist and literary scholar Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ - who was born in the US and grew up on Kenya. Asmaa Azaizeh, Palestinian poet and essayist, Zuleika Sheikh and Rosalba Icaza, teachers at the Institute of Social Studies, also talked about their experiences with "decolonising the mind". The stories were interspersed by muscial performances by Lamin Kuyateh.

    The 25th anniversary edition of Writers Unlimited festival payed special attention to liberation and, more specifically, to the decolonisation of (Western) thinking. How free is our mind, what does that freedom mean, and are we really free or are we trapped in the framework of our culture, society and history? This theme was partly based on Decolonizing the Mind, an essay by Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ''s father, the Kenyan writer and social activist Ngugi wa Thiong'o. The essay is about colonised language and its still-noticeable influence. With this theme, the festival also established a link to its early editions, which focused on The Netherlands' relationship with Indonesia, Surinam, the Antilles and South Africa.

    Read here the article that Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ published in 2018 in Literary Hub about the meaning of the essay Decolonizing the Mind (1986) by his father Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.

  • Winternachten 2019

    Imagine Africa is the Future - International Storytelling Symposium

    With: HemelBesem, Jan Pronk, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Kees Biekart, Lamin Kuyateh, Otieno Ong'ayo

    Africa is often in the news with regard to wars, drought, famine, poverty and migration to Europe, as we see in the images of boating tragedies in the Mediterranean. But even though many problems remain to be solved, Africa is going through a process of socio-economic transformation. 'Africa is the Future' is more than just a slogan on a T-shirt. During this storytelling symposium organized in collaboration with the International Institute of Social Studies, academics, writers, poets and politicians from Africa and Europe speak to and with the public. They shared their stories and ideas about the future from and about the African continent, interspersed by muscial performances by Lamin Kuyateh. English spoken.

  • Winternachten 2016

    Writers' Fest

    With: Aad Meinderts, Adriaan van Dis, Anna Woltz, Annelies Verbeke, Dick van der Harst, Edward van de Vendel, Femke Halsema, Francis Broekhuijsen, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Job Cohen, Joris Wijsmuller, Lamin Kuyateh, Michael Krüger, Rodaan Al Galidi, Typhoon

    A festive event built around the presentation of the Jan Campert Prizes, the literary awards of the City of The Hague. In collaboration with the Jan Campert Foundation and the Dutch Foundation for Literature, Dutch literature is celebrated with various performances by writers, poets, and representatives of other disciplines (who honour the winners). The event is intended, in part, to highlight the state of Dutch literature. The afternoon culminates in the presentation of the Constantijn Huygens Prize for a whole body of work, which this year is awarded to Adriaan van Dis, beloved author and a great friend of the festival since day one. In Dutch