photo: Jason Gardner

Who would have guessed that a chance encounter years ago between buskers in the streets of Bath, England would lead to a new musical adventure in 2020? Amadou Diagne from Senegal and French-American Cory Seznec hit it off that Spring day years ago, planting the seeds of a future collaboration in their minds. Life embarked them on different touki (journey in Wolof), but with the recent support of an Arts Council of England grant, Amadou and Cory have been able to see their seedling shoot up into the light.

Cory Seznec
Somewhere between musical wanderer and uncertified ethnomusicologist dwells Cory Seznec and his unique world. A French-American musician based in Paris, Cory began learning fingerstyle guitar and clawhammer banjo during his adolescence in the US. This led to numerous travels and encounters that helped develop his sound. The discovery of African fingerstyle techniques coupled with trips to different African countries changed everything. His style became more and more syncopated, polyrhythmic, and cross-pollinated, and his approach less and less academic.

A founding member of Groanbox and Seznec Bros, Cory also helped create the Sawmill Sessions, an Old-Time and Bluegrass collective in Paris. A resident of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for three and a half years, he was active in two bands MistO-MistO and Damakase, which mix Ethiopian music with other African styles. In July 2016, Cory embarked on a trip with filmmaker Gonzalo Guajardo to Luhya country in western Kenya to make a documentary on some of the few remaining omutibo style guitar players. In October 2016, Cory recorded a video lesson of some of his arrangements of New Orleans-infused fingerstyle guitar for Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop (released early 2017). To date he has released two albums: Beauty In The Dirt (2014) and Backroad Carnival (2017), both of which were greeted with acclaim in the UK and French press. He is currently hard at work on his third album (to be released in 2020). Check out his music blog, Cocoringo’s Circadian Sounds.

Amadou Diagne
Multi instrumentalist, Composer, singer, songwriter, Amadou Diagne has the traditions of West Africa at his fingertips.

Amadou can trace his music roots through a long family line of Griot musicians and praise singers. A former full-time member of L’Orchestra National du Senegal, he regularly performed as a percussionist in concerts, cultural events and on television for the top West African stars , as well as becoming a busy session musician on the vibrant Dakar music scene. Since moving to England, Amadou has been busy forging his own musical identity inspired by meeting, playing and collaborating with musicians from diverse backgrounds and musical styles.

Links:

facebook.com/amadoucory
touki.bandcamp.com
coryseznec.com/touki