Zou Diarra & Basile Maneka

Zoumana Diarra (Mali, 1960) hails from a family of "griots", African minstrels, who are held in high regard at the court. He plays the guitar, kora (African harp), ngoni (four-string African guitar), balaphone (wooden xylophone) and djembé. In the 1980s he added elements from jazz, salsa and R&B to his music. Zoumana has lived in Groningen since 1990 and has played, among others, with Stef Bos, Female Factory, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Leoni Jansen and the Five Great Guitars (Harry Sacksioni is one of them). He also gives workshops and builds instruments. www.zoudiarra.com

Basile Maneke (Congo) is a singer, guitarist, percussionist and composer. He grew up in Kinshasa and studied traditional music at the National Conservatory. In 1976 he settled in Angola where he founded his own successful group and played the trumpet in the National Orchestra. In 1993 Basile came to Friesland, working with poet Tsjebbe Hettinga, troubadour Hendrik van der Meer, Sieb van der Ploeg (De Kast), Sido Martens and the pop band Reboelje, among others. In addition he is active with his own bands (supporting act of De Dijk, among others), as a teacher and workshop leader.