Friday 9 October 2026
RNCM, Manchester
A joyful and exhilarating meeting of cultures
★★★★★
Last Friday’s concert by Manchester Collective and the Sidiki Dembélé Ensemble brought together two cultures: British classical music and traditional West African music. Born in Abobo, near Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Sidiki Dembélé is a percussionist and composer. Rakhi Singh, the Collective’s Creative Director, travelled to Abidjan to study drumming and dancing and see how the Collective’s strings could work with West African music. She discovered that dances written by the 17th century English composers John Playford and Henry Purcell would be a good fit, as they felt closer to folk music: ‘music of the earth and full of human spirit.’
‘In West Africa, life is based on rhythm, because we tell stories through music. The music itself is the story… What we’re showing is that we can live freely in the same place while walking in different rhythms.’
Sidiki Dembélé
Manchester Collective’s strings, dressed in flowery frocks, joined the Sidiki Dembélé Ensemble, dressed in splendid electric blue outfits. The Ensemble’s instruments included the djembe (a traditional African drum shaped like a goblet), the calabash (a large gourd cut in half and dried out), the ngoni (an African stringed instrument), the dundun (bass drums) and the balafon (similar to a wooden xylophone, with gourd resonators below the keyboard). Dembélé also introduced us to the tama, or talking drum, used to convey messages and for dancing: ‘it talks a lot, but it’s small.’
The Balafon
Combining West African traditional instruments with Western classical strings doesn’t seem like it would work on paper, but virtuosic musicians from both cultures made it utterly convincing. The musical traditions blended perfectly and met in the middle; sometimes it was difficult to tell which tradition the music came from. Playford’s Wallom Green began with an African percussion duet, played with wit, enthusiasm and infectious rhythms. The Collective’s Baroque strings, played with superb precision, matched the African rhythms. In Dembélé’s opening piece, Tama (the Journey), Singh’s folky violin solo matched the virtuosity of the drumming. Purcell’s The Old Bachelor began with Singh’s spellbinding solo, featuring lots of double-stopping, and gradually gained momentum as the African musicians, watching the Collective closely, joined in and transformed an austere classical piece into a dance. Singer Fatima Damango demonstrated her incredible vocal range in Johnny Faa, which Singh told us they had renamed Johnny Faa-tima in her honour. Damango’s voice felt ancient but timeless, drawn from no time and all time.
‘Constellations is a connection of human spirits from different lands, creating a unified language through listening, respect and empathy.’
Rakhi Singh
The concert featured the world premiere tour of Nwando Ebizie’s For You, small in the embrace of untethered, unwinding possible futures. This remarkable new work has three sections and includes a recorded spoken text. The first section describes the ‘four spirits’ of the drum: the wood it’s made from, the goat hide that covers it, the blacksmith who forges it, and the player who plays it, thus giving an inanimate object agency. The second movement describes how music claims the musician as they fall in love with music. The final section deals with destiny. Ebizie wrote the piece after long discussions with Singh and Dembélé, and from those conversations came Singh’s idea that gave the concert its title: ‘constellating’, or bringing together ‘musical ideas across time and space.’
‘This complex piece, with its profound poetry and deeply spiritual background, deserves to be heard again.‘
The piece began with fierce percussion and plucked strings. A sliding string motif was mesmerising; a sudden percussion explosion then prompted a lively, folky tune from the strings. Solo Diabate played the balafon with incredible virtuosity. All the performers sang a unison melody to the words, ‘In you the one tree that began this journey.’ This complex piece, with its profound poetry and deeply spiritual background, deserves to be heard again.
In the second half, Dembélé invited the audience to become ‘the fifth spirit’ by joining in with his compositions, Shaka and Siniensigui. He taught us to clap his complex rhythms, creating a true sense of community: ‘you’re so talented,’ he flattered. As the audience relaxed, the players responded; we clapped individual solos as in a jazz concert, something that never happens in a classical concert (why not?!) Diabate played another balafon solo, metallic, mellifluous and virtuosic; he did a little twirl at the end, to huge applause. Peggy Nolan matched him with a jazzy cello solo, and Dembélé matched her with a phenomenal drum solo, and Alan Keary then played an amazing mandolin solo. After this, Edmund Finnis’s Hymn After Byrd and Emily Hall’s So Far offered a complete contrast, bringing serenity and moments of quiet ecstasy.
‘There is no music without dancing’
Sidiki Dembélé
Dembélé, announcing the final piece, Teriya (Friendship), said, ‘There is no music without dancing… we are so lucky to have a big dance floor.’ Some braver audience members ventured onto the dance floor in front of the performers. It was reassuring to see some polite, very English ‘dad dancing’ at the back of the crowd, but those at the front threw themselves into it with abandon. By the encore, Djikunu (The Power of Water), some brave souls joined the semi-circle made by the performers for solo dances and spun around like whirling dervishes. Not to be outdone, singer Damango took a solo spot, bringing this superb concert to an exhilarating close. Manchester Collective have proved, yet again, that imaginative programming with brilliant collaborations can bring joy to performers and audiences alike.
Repertoire
Sidiki Dembélé Tama
John Playford Wallom Green
Sidiki Dembélé Ita
Henry Purcell The Old Bachelor Z. 607: Hornpipe
Nwando Ebizie For You, small in the embrace of untethered, unwinding possible futures (world premiere)
Traditional Johnny Faa
Sidiki Dembélé Chefari Dundun
Henry Purcell The Virtuous Wife Z. 611: Air, Timon of Athens Z. 632:
Sidiki Dembélé Shaka, Siniensigui
Edmund Finnis Hymn (after Byrd)
Emily Hall So Far
John Playford The Virgin Queen
Sidiki Dembélé Teriya, Djikunu
Featuring arrangements by Rakhi Singh, Bjarte Eike, Will Newell and Ali Vennart
Performers
Sidiki Dembélé Ensemble:
Sidiki Dembélé djembe, calabash, ngoni
Fatima Damango vocals
Morybo Kone dundun
Solo Diabate balafon
Mike King bass guitar
Manchester Collective:
Rakhi Singh creative direction, violin
Nicky Sweeney, Simmy Singh, Kaylee Ramella violins
Ruth Gibson, Lucy Nolan violas
Peggy Nolan cello
Alan Keary bass guitar
Now read on…