KIKK Opening – AfriKIKK Party

Zouratié Koné (BF)

Zouratié Koné is an artist from Burkina Faso who has been visiting Belgium since 2013, as part of the Afro Jazz sextet, Afrikan Protokol.

Trained in the oral tradition of the Mandingo Griots (traditional artist-healers), he has mastered all the traditional instruments of West Africa (ngoni, kora, balafon, talking drum, djembe, dundun, longa,) and knows hundreds of different rhythms and musical traditions from the Mandingo region of West Africa, as well as a wide range of songs.

In his musical repertoire, which began to make a name for itself in Belgium in 2018, this rich tradition fuses with different European musical styles. He plays with some of Belgium’s leading jazz musicians, including saxophonist Toine Thys, trumpeter Laurent Blondiau and singer Tutu Pouane.

In the duo presented at this festival, he will be accompanied by Senegalese percussionist Honoré Kouadio.

SAHAD (SN)

The name Sahad refers to “harvest” in Serer and “resurrection” in Wolof. Sahad describes himself as a bush taxi who travels the world in search of the riches born of our differences, to share them.

From Afro to jazz, blues to folk and funk, he draws on all African and cosmic influences to create a kaleidoscopic music. His latest album, Luuma, plays the hybrid card, moving from purely acoustic tracks to psychedelic rhythms, blending deep sensitivity with a dazzling explosion of energy.

Sahad has been included in several official selections at international events (Nairobi, Austin, Rabat). He won the Tanit d’or prize at the Journées Musicales de Carthage (2016), was a finalist at MIDEM (2016, France) and winner of the “Afro Pépites show” Le Rêve africain ( 2016, France).

With his team, Sahad created the independent label “Stereo Africa 432” to produce and support local alternative artists and promote their talent on the international scene. He is also founder and initiator of the Kamyaak eco-village in Senegal.

Rokia Bamba (BE)

(Adapted from Marie Darah, Femme Flamboyante)

“When Rokia decides to make you sweat, you can’t help it.

Rokia doesn’t just make you dance, she makes you foam and bewitch you, she’s a charmer of people, she always finds a way to make you undulate.

And if you want to put your jacket back on, don’t try too hard, she’ll take it off.

Rokia is all about the eclecticism of wanting to look good. She has this notion of things in word bubbles, in separate blocks that fit together and inside she hears the music that will get you moving. Rokia knows. And when you tell her that you’ve sweated so much that you can’t take it any more, she’ll reply: “Ben WÉ!”

Rokia Bamba is also peace, a rediscovered gentleness that had forgotten to see itself in all its splendour as a generous, healing woman. Rokia, the female DJ who scans the smiles on the dancefloor and the energies, Rokia, the emancipated woman who took time to sublimate herself into who she really was, Rokia, the campus radio station, Rokia, the journalist, Rokia, the podcast host, Rokia from Paris to Dakar in the world gallery, Rokia Bamba, the Flamboyant. She’s beginning to realise that you can enjoy doing good for people and taking society to task, body by body, soul by soul, human by human, taking care to create a circle prolific in collective well-being. And that, Rokia, is something you can’t doubt when you see her with her toothy smile and her 75 thousand stylish glasses. When she talks to you about her children, or her mum, or simply her job, or her desire to learn how to do things, Rokia is like a sun shaking, an aura of reunion, she gives you that feeling of being part of a family, even if you don’t have one. And that’s a precious gift, to feel at home. From the scent of a reassuring Pierre, you can sense in her whole being that Rokia is a woman who rocks as much as she blazes. And if the world is doomed to explode, then it’s to these sounds that we’ll dance, so we don’t forget to be sparks, flames, blazing at her side, at her fingertips.”