About this Event
Join Suntou Susso and Fran André for an extra special, one-off workshop.
This is a space for people of colour in Totnes and the surrounding areas to come together, and learn from a tradition built on community-mindedness and acceptance. Whatever your heritage, you’re welcome to join this circle of song and connection.
No prior singing experience needed.
The session (31st October)
Fran will open the session with a warm up, helping everyone settle into the space. Fran will teach some simple songs from the African Diaspora to bring us into the spirit of connection, with each other and our own voice. These songs will be taught by ear.
Then learn firsthand from multi-award-winning Gambian musician, kora player and composer, Suntou Susso about his Griot culture and teachings, and discover the music of the Mandinka people. This will include a showcase of the kora and learning some of the traditional songs from the Mandinka songbook. Lyric sheets will be provided. Featuring live percussion accompaniment.
Come ready to gather, sing and learn together.
Join the band on stage (6th November)
Everyone who takes part in this workshop is warmly invited to join Suntou Susso & the Gambian Superstars to perform one of the songs on stage at the Barrelhouse Ballroom on Friday 6 November, as part of their UK album tour. Your ticket includes a place at the show, which is very likely to sell out.
With thanks to Arts Council of England for their support of this project.
About Suntou Susso
Suntou Susso is a multi-instrumentalist - kora player, percussionist, singer and composer - from The Gambia who was born a Griot. His primary instrument, the kora is a harp-lute with 22 strings and is unique to the Griots of the Mandinka people. Coming from a 700-year-old tradition, Griots play an important cultural role as peacekeepers, advisors and oral historians, preserving and transmitting a people's culture through the generations using song, music and poetry.
Since the release of his self-written debut album, Kanéfonyo (Never Give Up) in 2022, Suntou's career has gained serious momentum and he is an in-demand and charismatic performer. 2025 saw the release of his multi-award-winning second album, Jaliya Silokang - The Path of a Griot. Drawing on the wisdom of elders and youth alike, Suntou explores what it means to be a contemporary Griot. Suntou acts as a vessel imparting lessons in how to live a good and honest life in today’s world. The album is both a journey into heritage and a bright, hopeful vision for what lies ahead. In this way, he is at once a guardian of the Griot tradition and a bold innovator of its future.
Suntou performs in a range of musical settings. Either solo with a more traditional sound, or leading his seven-piece band whose music innovatively blends Mandinka musical traditions with jazz, funk and soul; and appears as part of a British-Gambian folk duo. He also performs in a range of other collaborations and projects.
Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Newsletter
About Fran André
Fran has more than 20 years experience leading and facilitating groups to bring out the beauty and deep connected that shared harmony singing can provide. She has a passion for teaching music of the African diaspora, and alongside this, raising awareness of the increased need for the full cultural honouring of music from other cultures. She is a woman of mixed heritage with ancestral roots in Mauritius, going back to East & West Africa and India.
In 2020, she was part of the conception and creation of the Black Lives Matter Commissioning Project which sought to highlight the past and present issue of black culture creators not being recompensed properly for their work and their huge contribution to arts and culture. This project raised £28,000 to fund 8 new harmony songs by black composers in the UK and the US. Since 2020, Fran has also been leading a National Lottery funded project called Building Bridges which primarily has been bringing people of colour together to experience belonging, and safe spaces in which to express themselves and feel reflected in their cultural qualities with other folks of colour.
Fran is a bringer of truly joyful song medicine and her singing leading contains both a blend of uplifting energy and a reflective tone. She has previously created and led Soul of the City Gospel Choir in Exeter, Jubilation Choir, Friday Morning Singing!, Dartington Monday Fun Choir, and has leads day singing workshops in the area.
Black Lives Matter Commissiong Project | Fran André profile
Event venue & nearby stays
The Barrel House, 59a High Street, Totnes, United Kingdom
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