Hailed as one of the most vital figures in modern African music, Malian singer-songwriter and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall.

She has worked with include some of the biggest names in contemporary music. She recorded with Bobby Womack and Herbie Hancock; played Glastonbury and other major festivals; and toured with the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca. She formed a super group featuring Amadou and Mariam, Oumou Sangaré and Toumani Diabaté to record a song calling for peace in her troubled homeland; and climbed aboard Damon Albarn’s star studded Africa Express, which culminated in her sharing a stage with Sir Paul McCartney

For her performance in the EFG London Jazz Festival she will be performing material from her album Maliba, released this year.

The record is a collaboration with the Google Arts & Culture platform and is a special project commemorating the historic Timbuktu Manuscripts.

Recorded in Fatoumata’s small studio in Bamako, the album is drenched in the authentic rhythms of Wassoulou music.