OKAVANGO
Multiple instruments, languages and countries together help define the music of Okavango African Orchestra, winners of the 2017 JUNO for World Music Album of the Year and the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Award for Global Roots Album of the Year.
OKAVANGO
Multiple instruments, languages, and countries together help define the music of Okavango African Orchestra. Okavango African Orchestra is an ambitious musical ensemble created by Batuki Music Society, Artistic Director Nadine McNulty assembled a cast of accomplished African-born musicians: Daniel Nebiat (krar, composer, vocals), Kofi Ackah (drums, samples, composer, vocals), Tichaona Maredza (mbira, guitar, composer, vocals), Sadio Sissokho (kora, tama, djembe, composer, vocals), Ebenezer Agyekum (bass guitar, composer, vocals), Assane Seck (guitar, composer, vocals) and Mabinty Sylla (dance, back vocals).
The orchestra takes its name from the Okavango Delta, a basin in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, where many different animal species come together to feed and find water. Predators and prey are forced to coexist and share the meager resources because of the harsh environment around them. Similarly, Okavango African Orchestra brings together the traditional music and instruments of several major African cultures that historically have had liOle or no interaction. The musicians of Okavango have created a common meeting place for these disparate cultures, and a new musical language that harmonizes their different tuning systems, rhythms, and timbres. The musicians and instruments of Okavango represent a continuum of traditions and cultures from immemorial to the present day. The multicultural spirit of modern-day Canada bridges ancient African solitudes.
Okavango African Orchestra revisited the site of its debut, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to record the group’s debut, self-titled album, in February 2016, which was awarded the 2017 JUNO for World Music Album of the Year. Their second album, “Africa Without Borders”, released in February 2020 was nominated for a 2020 JUNO Award for World Music Album of the Year and the 2021 Canadian Folk Music Award. On November 1, 2023, Okavango released their third album, Migration, “Our music is not static, it’s constantly evolving, and like the animals in the Okavango delta that migrate to greener pastures, the music of Okavango endeavours to reach new territory of migra.on and explora.on. We are not just playing music, we are introducing new concepts, ideas and ways of working together.” The album Migration was awarded the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Global Album of the Year.
Multiple instruments, languages, and countries together help define the music of Okavango African Orchestra.
Okavango African Orchestra is an ambitious musical ensemble created by Batuki Music Society, Artistic Director Nadine McNulty assembled a cast of accomplished African-born musicians: Daniel Nebiat (krar, composer, vocals), Kofi Ackah (drums, samples, composer, vocals), Tichaona Maredza (mbira, guitar, composer, vocals), Sadio Sissokho (kora, tama, djembe, composer, vocals), Ebenezer Agyekum (bass guitar, composer, vocals), Assane Seck (guitar, composer, vocals) and Mabinty Sylla (dance, back vocals).
“It’s obvious that Okavango respects the continent’s myriad musical traditions. It’s in the glorious mix of rhythms in their songs,”
Errol Nazareth, Toronto Sun