In late 2022, Boubacar Gaye and Bassdi Koné, members of the Melbourne-based Afro-Cuban ensemble Ausecuma Beats, returned to West Africa in the culmination of an idea that had been brewing since the world first went into lockdown in early 2020. The pair wanted to return to their homes in Dakar and Bamako respectively, to be reunited with family, friends, country, and with the vibrant music communities in those cities they had left behind when emigrating to Australia.

More than this, they had a vision of bringing their three home cities – Melbourne, Australia; Dakar, Senegal; and Bamako, Mali – together in an album that celebrated the intense creative energy coursing through the streets of these three places.

Ausecuma Beats’ third studio album, Dakar Bamako, features a total of fourteen musicians from three cities around the world, coming together in a true cross-cultural collaboration that celebrates stories of migration, cooperation and the unifying power of music and dance as a force to bring humanity together.

Join Ausecuma Beats as they celebrate the release of this special album, out everywhere now via Music in Exile, with limited edition vinyl pressing via Impressed Records.

Listen to Dakar Bamako.

Music in Exile is a not-for-profit record label and registered charity supporting Australian musicians with lived experience of displacement. You can learn more and donate here.