ROBERTO FONSECA QUARTET WITH FATOUMATA DIAWARA TO HEADLINE SAFARICOM JAZZ LOUNGE

Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and special guest Fatoumata Diawara from Mali, will be the leading acts at the Safaricom Jazz Lounge to be held on November 5 at Uhuru Gardens.

Fonseca, who made his debut at the Havana International Jazz Festival at the tender age of 15 in 1990, is an ingenious composer who draws on a wide range of musical traditions and genres.

He has released projects such as Zamazu, and Akokan during his two decade-long career, and in 2015 collaborated with Diawara to release their album At Home (Live in Marciac) to rave reviews by music critics.

Prolific Kenyan afro-jazz band Shamsi Music will open the show, and promises to entertain fans with a lively performance drawn from a repertoire of classics, blues, afro-jazz and contemporary tunes.

The international stars and their band are expected in the country in the next three weeks and will take some time to visit Korogocho, where the Ghetto Classics music programme is based.

Ghetto Classics is funded by proceeds from Safaricom Jazz, and has since its launch in 2008 benefitted close to 1000 youth from underprivileged backgrounds, with over 650 pre-teens and teens currently receiving music lessons each week.

[hit_count]