Zaouli African Dance - taking the beat to the street!

Taking zaouli dance on to the streets with traditional African drums and Fulani flute. Zaouli dance is often listed in the ‘top ten’ of African dances and is a traditional mask dance of the Gouro (or Kweni) people of Ivory Coast celebrating the beauty of African women. Mostly performed by men, women also dance it in their own style.

Rarely seen performed in the UK, master drummer Henri Gaobi’s group, Kaagô take it to the streets as part of the fun of the Leytonstone Festival, London, with master musicians Henri Gaobi on lead djembe and Baba Gallé Kanté on Fulani flute joined by the talented multi-instrumentalist Malick Kouyate (dundun) and Tim Cope (djembe) with Marie Laine (zaouli dancer).

Our thanks to award-winning music venue Luna Lounge in Leytonstone for making this possible (in September 2019). Zaouli was recognised by UNESCO as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2017.