Born and raised in Conakry, Guinea, N'Famady Kouyaté could probably have told you the direction his life would take at a very early age. Being a member of the prestigious Kouyaté family (Afropop listeners can probably name at least three musicians with that surname with ease), he would assume he would be playing an instrument, probably the balafon, and most probably spend his life based in Conakry and performing at weddings and baptisms, and if he rose to the status of some of his relatives, he might get to record and/or tour outside of Guinea. For the uninitiated, the griot family of Kouyatés, as legend has it, have been the spiritual caretakers of the balafon since the 13th century.
So indeed, N'Famady began playing balafon - as well as gumbe and dundun drums - with his mother Fatoumata's band with his siblings, known as Djeliguinet et Ses Enfants ("Djeli Guinet" is her mother's nickname), at cultural centers and such in Guinea.
From there, he graduated to go on his own and play with various traditional dance companies. But then, chance introduced him to a Welsh tourist, Cathryn McShane, who had an interest in African dance. Love blossomed, and eventually, she became Cathryn McShane Kouyaté. And so in 2019, N'Famady found himself living in Cardiff, Wales, in a culture very different than he previously had known or could have predicted. He couldn't speak any English at the time, but he had his balafon. He was soon introduced to Gruff Rhys of the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals who was so impressed with his musicianship, that he not only invited N'Famady to play on the solo album he was recording at the time, but took him on tour as his opening act.
Now, N'Famady leads a band of his own, playing a fusion of Guinean and indie pop music that earned him the coveted 2023 Emerging New Talent competition at the famed Glastonbury Festival. He and his wife also run the Successors of the Mandingue, an organization that brings Welsh and Guinean artists together, as well as supporting other cross-cultural projects.
We met with N'Famady the afternoon before his showcase at WOMEX this year, and we'll let him tell the rest of his story. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Ron Deutsch: Born in the Kouyaté family, was it just expected that you would become a musician?
N'Famady Kouyaté: It's like natural. You are born into this family and our main thing is simply music.
Did you have a choice of learning some other instrument or style? Did you ask to play the balafon?
I can't remember a moment I said that. It was kind of like, when my eyes first opened, listening to it, lifting sticks and get them to play. So it kind of came naturally. But when you grow up, obviously, you have choices to play other instruments. I played a little bit of guitar, and later on, I began to play other percussion stuff like the gumbe. But balafon is more like the central instrument of the Kouyaté family. It's like everyone in the family has to play balafon. Some played the gumbe and some played dunun, and others maybe the castanets.
Balafon is the family instrument.
That's what you kind of grow up seeing hanging in the house. All the other instruments be like bought or someone gifts it, you know, like that.
So in terms of starting to perform, when did that begin for you?
I was playing in my mother's band. She plays balafon. So she's the one that taught me and all my sisters and brothers as well. My dad as well, but mainly my mom. So that's where it started. I guess we were playing a lot in the cultural center venues, such as the Franco-Guinean Cultural Center in Guinea.
At some point, did you go off on your own?
Well, our mom kind of opened lots of doors for us. We would play for theater companies, and then we went to play with different groups, playing traditional ballet, which is very popular in West Africa, especially in Guinea. A lot of neighborhoods have private ballets, and then we have two national ballets, like Les Ballet Africains. So we're playing along with dancers.
But, you know, when you get to certain age then they want to get you out of the house and stuff like that. So I had a chance to play with other amazing bands, such as, you know, Ballet Gbassikolo and Keita Fodeba Centre for Acrobatic Arts school, so we'd play for them.
Were you touring Europe or this is all just in Guinea?
We were touring in West Africa mainly. We went to Morocco, at one point. I think back then it was quite hard for bands to move around a lot. It was always linked to this visa stuff, blah, blah, blah. And then I started playing with this orchestra, playing Manding traditional music but with modern instrumentation. So we call that an orchestra band, and we'd be like doing a lot of wedding ceremonies. So that's another part of growing up into music, learning about a lot of styles of doing music at another level.
Were you going to school at the same time?
I had to choose between school and ballet. When I was in my mom's band, I wasn't allowed to leave school. I wasn't even thinking about it. But when I joined the Circus Group, I felt like it was an opportunity for me, and so school became very hard for me to focus on. I wound up leaving school at around 15 years old.
So how did the decision to move to Wales happen?
Well, I got married to a Welsh lady that I met in Guinea. She had come on a trip, exploring the culture and dancing. I was part of a traditional ballet she went to see and that's where we met. Back then, I was doing some West African shows around the region, and so we did some traveling together in Africa, but I wasn't actually thinking of living in Europe because of all the cool music going on in Guinea. It would be cool to just live there and travel. But then the music scene in Guinea started getting very bad.
Why was it getting bad?
It was political, like everywhere in Africa. Africa has gone into politics instead of focusing on entertainment, making people happy. I'm not big on politics, but there was nothing going on musically. And I grew up seeing my mom go to Canada, America, France, everywhere. This was with a female band from Guinea called, at the time, Les Amazons de Guinea, but then they had to change their name to Nimbaya! Percussion. It was not her group, but she was one of the main performers. So in terms of music, she showed us a way to be more presentable internationally, even in places like the local cultural centers where a lot of visitors come. So we grew up playing for visitors.
So when things weren't working in Guinea, we decided to come to see what Wales looks like. I didn't know anything about Wales. I was calling everything England. But here I am - proud, you know - a half -Welsh boy now. Everything has changed since then.
What was the toughest thing for you to make sense of when you moved?
A lot. First of all, the biggest thing was language. That was the biggest barrier for me because I didn't speak English. Not at all. I had never spoken English in Guinea. We spoke only local languages and a bit of French. So six years ago, I started speaking English here and that was very hard, but, you know, I went for it. And I had my wife, family, and also some friends who are English teachers, so they were taking some time to work with me to practice and stuff. That was the main thing I would say.
And the second thing is the cultural differences. I'd never been to Europe before. I was touring a lot, but I never went to Europe. So that was my first time coming in June 2018. Things were very different from Africa to Europe.
Did you immediately try to put a band together or were you doing other things?
Well, when I first came, I was more into playing balafon around. And then my wife set up some meetings for me, and some places to gig, because people haven't really heard balafon in Wales before. So that helped me a lot. I had a few festivals already booked while I was in Guinea. I was playing solo with just the backing track on my iPhone. I played solo a lot to promote myself, you know, like "Hey, I'm here, the West African balafon player." But I have a band now - and they're all from Cardiff.
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I would say I give credit to a man called Gruff Rhys, from the Super Furry Animals band. He lives in Wales and I had a chance to play and meet him the first week I was in the U.K.. There's this festival called Eisteddfod; it's like a national Welsh language festival that travels around Wales every year. And my wife, Cathryn, was working as part of it in Cardiff, making costumes and stuff. She mentioned me to Gruff. She told him that there's this African guy coming, and that he's a griot who plays balafon. And Gruff was like, "Okay, bring him to the studio. We'd like to hear the balafon." And so I went to the studio and he was like, "Wow !" He loved the balafon and so I played with him on this song "Bae Bae Bae" at the festival. And then later on, he invited me to play balafon on his next record, Pang.
After just six months, I went back to Guinea - all that happened in six months. And then Gruff invited me to tour with him. So we did a U.K. tour. I was the opening act, as well. So that's how it happened. And that's what got me into indie music, because Gruff's band is very indie, Welsh indie. So for me, growing up in Africa with a totally different genre I was now having to play with this rock band, listening to the indie music every night, venue after venue, going to a motorway hotel, and then the next day back to the venue, you know? It was kind of getting to me. I was like: "How does it work with African and rock and indie?" But eventually it all came together, and these days I've managed to incorporate some of that feeling - you know, a little hint of indie rock into my Guinea Manding music.
You released an EP in 2021. Are you currently working on an album?
Yes, I released the EP called Aros I Fi Yna, which in Welsh language is "Wait for Me There." It's a love song. And yes, I'm working on releasing a full album next year.
Thanks for you time. It was a pleasure.
Come tonight, and you use your ear. You'll hear what I'm talking about.
