In May 2018 we were honored to welcome the Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and acclaimed actress Fatoumata Diawara at M.Bassy for an unplugged concert ad well as intimate talk with Musa Okwonga about connection, receiving and sharing as well as following the path of an African feminists. She is hailed as the voice of young African womanhood – proud of her heritage but with a vision that looks confidently to the future and a message that is universal.
For the second event of M.Bassy’s 2025 interdisciplinary music series »Composing While Black. Afrodiasporic New Music Today« we welcomed the French-German scholar and dramaturge for music, opera, theatre and performance art Dr. Dr. Daniele G. Daude and three musicians – Neneh Sowe, Yassin Sowe and Eurico Mathias – of the classical string ensemble The String Archestra from Berlin at M.Bassy e.V. to perform selected works by Ayanna Witter-Johnson, William Grant Still and Fela Sowande. Daude founded The String Archestra in 2016 aiming to perform works by BIPoC composers which have completely disappeared both from canonical music historiography and from a standardized concert repertoire.
The acclaimed Grammy-winning Beninese French singer-songwriter and choreograph Angélique Kidjo was welcomed at M.Bassy on March 7, 2023, for a music and culinary conversation about her music career, African life in the diaspora, culture, racism and gender with the British-Ugandan writer, journalist and musician Musa Okwonga. The evening was musically rounded off by the Hamburg musician Saliou Cissokho who learned the tradition of playing the kora from his father in Senegal.
In July 2018 we warmly welcomed the acclaimed vocalist, composer, writer, and performer Somi Kakoma performing with Toru Dodo (piano) and Herve Sambe (guitar) for an unplugged concert at M.Bassy. Afterwards, the audience was invited to attend a personal conversation between the artist and the journalist, author and musician himself Musa Okwonga about the struggle of being a Black immigrant in the US, spaces of agency for African identities and giving voice to the community.
In the fifth part of M.Bassy‘s »More Aphrike« series, our guests are the author and speaker Taiye Selasi and the musical adventurer and producer Bill Sellanga aka Blinky Bill. Selasi defined the term »Afropolitan« for a new generation of cosmopolitans with African roots. Nairobi-based Blinky Bill mixes the sounds of Kenya with music from other African countries and reaches people far beyond the continent. Their talk focuses on cultural belonging and the forming of identity in a world which is becoming more fluid while simultaneously raising new borders.
On the occasion of our exhibition »Beat the Silence: Sonic Chonicles« in spring 2025 the audience had the chance to join an opening performance by the poet, rapper, Pan-African activist, designer and filmmaker Elom Kossi Winceslas aka Elom 20ce from Lomé, Togo – our Artist-in-Residence for this project.
