as part of Oltre le mura / Beyond the walls
a Fabbrica Europa project for Autunno Fiorentino 2026

A new concert in the Music, Orality, Participation project, following the workshop held at Il Lavoratorio on Friday 6 and Saturday 8 November, featuring Senegalese griot and musician Badara Seck, Moroccan musician Amine Ezzalzouli, Senegalese percussionist Matar Mbaye, cellist Alice Chiari, and Senegalese kora player Edouard Manga.

A journey in which music becomes a space for encounter, discovery, and dialogue with others, celebrating cultural diversity and fostering intercultural transmission and shared participation.

Badara Seck is a Senegalese singer, songwriter and performer, born into a historic griot family — figures who play a central role in West African societies, whose role is to orally transmit collective memory, history, poetry and music within their communities. A charismatic artist endowed with extraordinary vocal abilities, he has built an international career combining music, theatre, performance and cultural mediation, moving naturally between African traditions and contemporary Western artistic languages. His artistic practice is strongly characterised by intercultural dialogue, experimentation across genres and social engagement, with particular attention to themes of identity, migration, memory and encounters between peoples.

Amine Ezzalzouli, a Moroccan musician, embodies the spiritual and ritual essence of tradition through driving rhythms, spiritual chants and the use of traditional instruments. His music, influenced by Sufism, has evolved through encounters with other genres, contributing to its international reach.

Matar Mbaye, a Senegalese percussionist and singer, comes from a family of griots and is a second-generation artist (his father was the director and his mother the principal dancer of the National Ballet of Senegal). Since the 1990s, he has lived and worked between Senegal and Italy. He regularly leads African percussion courses and workshops.

Edouard Manga is a renowned Senegalese musician and kora player, performing on the traditional string instrument of West Africa. Not coming from a griot family, he approached the kora in a unique way. An eclectic musician, he has collaborated with numerous artists from the Senegalese and international music scenes.

Alice Chiari, a singer and multi-instrumentalist with a degree in cello, is a founding member of the duo Magosanto. Always searching for her own distinctive sounds, she has spent years experimenting with electronics and sound effects and has collaborated extensively across music, theatre and dance.

OLTRE LE MURA | Beyond the Walls is a project by Fondazione Fabbrica Europa as part of Autunno Fiorentino 2026.

photo (detail): Giampaolo Becherini