Akolá Tambó + Dembis Thioung

Akolá Tambó, first bullerengue group in the UK, was born in London in 2020. Due to its geographical location, its objective has been to reconstruct, through practice and research, the ancestral legacy of this tradition in order to rescue it from oblivion and share its healing power with the world. 

The group has fast gained recognition and become a reference within London’s Latin community, and it has been invited to perform at some of the community’s most important venues and stages such as Latino Life Festival, FEST LATAM, Fusión de los Pueblos, CASA Festival, Hootananny, The Post Bar and Blanquita’s, and in festivals across the UK and Europe such as The Great Get Together, Vortex Jazz Festival, Tonnau Festival, and the Great Exhibition Road Festival. They also participated at the María la Baja Bullerengue Festival in Colombia in December 2022.

With its trance-inducing bullerengue, Akolá Tambó presents a blaze of traditional Afro-Colombian beats that will take you on a journey to reconnect to the root. A high dose of drums, dance and mantra-like chants gives birth to this ancestral ritual in which everyone is invited to take part, unify their voices and become one. 

Born and raised in Dakar, West Africa, within a Serer Griot family, Dembis Thioung inherited his mother's rich cultural heritage and his father's Peul/Fula Laube traditions. He was introduced to traditional and contemporary Senegalese music from a very young age, learning the art of drumming and dance.