TOURE KUNDA

Line up

• TOURE KUNDA ()

• country:
  Senegal
• style(s):
  • Afro
• label:
  Wagram Music
• gender:
  male, female
• instrumentation:
  instrumental, vocal
• artist submitted by:
  Safoul Productions

Toure means "elephant" and Kunda is "home", the reason why the band is often called
"The Elephant Family".
In 1973 Ismaila Toure left his Casamance to see the world and explore its music,
eventually arriving two years later in Paris where he worked in community service and
played charity concerts before inviting his youger brother Sixu Tidiane to join him in
1977. That same year they played their first concert at Pantin before going to a residency
at the Theatre Dunois in Paris. On the strength of their live success they released their
debut album "Ismaila and Sixu" and invited two of their brothers to join them to create
TOURE KUNDA. Over the next two years they toured extensively and in 1979 they
released their first album on Celluloid which went gold like their four subsequent albums.
In 1983 during a concert in Paris their older brother Amadou died
of a heart attack. A concert was organised in his memory after
which the brothers returned to Africa embarking on a major tour
of the Ivory Coast, Mali, Gambia and Senegal which bore the
fabulous live album "Paris - Ziguinchor" which sold more than
200 000 copies. With their younger brother Ousmane replacing
Amadou the band went back on the road in France selling out the
Espace balard in front of 20 000 fans and going on to a major
tour which attracted over 200 000 spectators. Later in the year
they released a new album produced by Bill Laswell entitled "Natalia" after which they
embarked on a world tour selling out major dates in the U.S.A. and Japan.
In 1986 they signed French independent labem TREMA releasing two albums "Live at
Palais des Congres Sounke" and "Sili Beto". During this period they continued touring
playing all the major festivals in Europe where they broke numerous attendance records
and several prestigious events like the Summit of African head's of State and the
Humans Rights Concert for Nelson Mandela in Paris. In order to capitalise on their
extensive overseas the group now back to its original format of Ismaila and Sixu signed
their first contract with a major, WEA and in 1996 released "Mouslai" which was recorded
in France and England.
Their reputation as a live act and representatives of
African music had resulted in a meeting of "the
brothers" with Carlos Santana, with whom they went on
to play in Paris and Frejus, then it was natural for them
to invite Carlos to guest on this album. Unfortunately
contractual commitments made this impossible but they
did eventually write together a new song, "Africa
Bamba", which four years later was to be recorded for
the monumental album "Supernatural which has now
sold over 12 millions albums worldwide.
In February 2000, Carlos invited Ismaila ans Sixu to play with him at a live concert at the
French radio France Inter during he suggested that they accompany him on his
CONTACTS
Booking: Laëtitia Chantrait - laetitia@safoul-productions.com / Aubin Dohounon - aubin@safoul-productions.com
Safoul Productions 27ter, rue du Progrès 93107 Montreuil
www.safoul-productions.com - Tél. +33(0)1 48 59 36 11
European tour which kicks off in Madrid on May 18th. The group's new album "Terra
Saabi" has been released on Edel to coincide with this event

Links

• website