A THEATR MWLDAN PRODUCTION

Following unanimous critical raves for their 2013 debut Clychau Dibon, classically-trained Welsh harpist and Senegalese kora maestro Seckou Keita delivered a triumphant second album with 2018's album SOAR, again charting inspirational common ground between seemingly disparate traditions. Thematically inspired by the osprey - the magnificent raptor recently returned to Wales after its persecution to near extinction 400 years ago - and its annual migrations between Europe and Africa, the albumís intoxicating, often improvised synergy captures a magical meeting of minds and talents within a borderless musical landscape.

Themes of migration - natural, enforced and economic - run throughout SOAR, drawing deep on the sometimes darker history of these two great musical nations. "Like the iconic raptor, it swoops and soars to capture the bird's very essence," says Dave Haslam, in his 5* review for RnR Magazine, "SOAR is as near to perfection as it is possible".

Their performances of the album in spring 2018 garnered 5* reviews from both the Guardian and The London Evening Standard and prompted Songlines Magazines Tim Cumming to describe them as "the most popular world music act of the decade". SOAR went on to win the prestigious fRoots Critics Poll Album of The Year 2018, an award Catrin and Seckou received previously for Clychau Dibon in 2013. The album also received a nomination for the Welsh Music Prize, and has been named as one of MOJO and Songlines Magazines Top Ten Albums of the Year 2018.

'You could listen to this 1,000 times and still find something new' 4* David Hutcheon, MOJO 

'an emotional demonstration of how two virtuoso musicians triumphantly bring different cultures together' 5* ROBIN DENSELOW, THE GUARDIAN 

'Hypnotic and ethereal, SOAR is a unique marriage of cultures' 4* NEIL SPENCER, THE OBSERVER

TOUR DATES 2019

JANUARY 
24     CELTIC CONNECTIONS, Glasgow 
28    *DOUBLE BILL* CATRIN FINCH & SECKOU KEITA + BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA ROYAL WELSH COLLEGE OF MUSIC AND DRAMA, Cardiff/ Caerdydd  
29    *DOUBLE BILL* CATRIN FINCH & SECKOU KEITA + BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA THEATR MWLDAN, Cardigan / Aberteifi 

FEBRUARY
14  LANCASTER ARTS, Lancaster 

APRIL
26  L'Avant-Scène, Grand-Couronne (76), France  
27  Le Rocher de Palmer, Cenon (33), France
30  Transversales, Verdun (55), France

MAY
22  NEUADD DWYFOR, Pwllheli
23  WARWICK ARTS CENTRE, Coventry
24  THE ANVIL, Basingstoke
26  KONZERTHAUS, Vienna

JUNE

7    THE WILTSHIRE MUSIC CENTRE, Bradford-On-Avon
19  TOLBOOTH, Sterling                                                                                   
20  ST MARY’S SPACE, Fasnacloich                                                         
21  THE MACPHAIL CENTRE, Ullapool                                        
24  AN LANNTAIR, Stornoway                                                                       
25  AROS COMMUNITY THEATRE, Portree                     
26  EDEN COURT, Inverness                                                               
27  THE LEMON TREE, Aberdeen                                
29  EAST NEUK FESTIVAL, Fife      

JULY

AUGUST 

24  TOWERSEY FESTIVAL, Thame

OCTOBER

18  LIVE ROOM SALTAIRE, Saltaire
19  MUSICPORT, Whitby
20  NATIONAL CENTRE FOR EARLY MUSIC, York