African Soul Rebels

Music Beyond Mainstream presents African Soul Rebels featuring Les Amazones d’Afrique, Gasper Nali and N’famady Kouyaté.

2026 marks the 25th Anniversary of Music Beyond Mainstream, the groundbreaking tour producer, famed for bringing the most exciting and innovative music to a network of venues across the UK. Under the African Soul Rebels banner MBM has been at the forefront of introducing music from Africa and the African diaspora to UK audiences, including Amadou & Mariam, Tinariwen, Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal, Oumou Sangare and many more.

Now African Soul Rebels  is reborn for a new era — celebrating fearless artists who reshape tradition, challenge borders, and put rhythm at the centre of resistance and joy.

Leading the charge are the electrifying L’Amazones d’Afrique — the powerhouse collective of West African artists whose music fuses ancient roots with urgent, future-facing sounds and a message of strength, unity and change.

From Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage to President Obama’s playlist the voices of Les Amazones d’Afrique are being heard worldwide. Female warriordom has never sounded so fierce – or so danceable.

Joining them is the phenomenal Gasper Nali, a not-so-traditional babatoni player from the shores of Lake Malawi. With his 3-metre-long, one-stringed homemade bass guitar, a stick and an empty beer bottle, plus a cow-skin kick drum and collaborators on percussion and guitar, he creates impossibly danceable Afro beats with playful, joyful hooks.

N’famady Kouyaté has been building an enthusiastic UK audience with his unique musical style ever since he relocated to Wales from Guinea in 2019. His primary instrument is the balafon – a traditional wooden xylophone, sacred to West African culture and his family heritage of the griot/djeli. Winner of the 2023 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, N’famady’s music is a blend of his West African heritage and western musical influences from the likes of Super Furry Animals and The Flaming Lips.

This isn’t just a gig.

It’s a revival of a movement.

A celebration of African creativity, resistance and innovation — past, present and future.

This event is part of Music Beyond Mainstream (MBM), a network of large scale UK venues collaborating to present exceptional diverse artists and distinctive musical voices beyond the mainstream touring circuit. 

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.