Fatoumata Diawara + Thanda Choir
Fatoumata Diawara + Thanda Choir
Wed 18 November 2026
Stage time / 7:30pm
Doors / 7:00pm
Tickets
£33 incl. fees
Fatoumata Diawara is pure energy. Her vibrant voice tells the story of Africa - its suffering and its rediscovered joys - sung in her mother tongue, Bambara. She is a captivating artist, able to stir emotions, to make her audience laugh, cry, and above all, dance.
A free woman above all else, she uses art as a path. Through her singing, she addresses crucial subjects such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage - personal hardships that she transforms into a universal message of hope and resilience. Having fled Mali at the age of 19 to write her own story, Fatoumata Diawara continues, at 43, to examine society’s flaws while celebrating her dual life as an artist and a mother.
A major figure in African music, whose presence on stage is always a moment of bubbling intensity.
Opening the evening is South Africa’s Thanda Choir, a vibrant 50+ member collective from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, blending traditional vocal music, gospel and contemporary influences.
19:00 Doors
19:30 Thanda Choir
20:30 Fatoumata Diawara
Presented in partnership with
Fatoumata has made a point to rarely sing in any other language than Bambara, the national language of Mali where she is from, and there is one simple reason for that: she wants you to feel the music. Feel her voice. Feel the emotions. The self-taught guitarist is a not to miss musical experience and with the incredible Thanda Choir from South Africa, I guarantee you may not understand the words, but the voices will transport you.
China Moses, Jazz FM Recommends
