What do Wales and Senegal have in common? Not a lot, you might think, but think again. Both countries have the harp as a central instrument; both have a bardic storytelling tradition and then there’s the matter of that bird of prey, the osprey.

Seckou Keita and Catrin Finch

For centuries the fish hawks were common in Wales but by 1604 they were hunted out and on the point of extinction. Then, more than 400 years later, a pair returned and hatched a chick, Clarach. The conservationists tracked the young bird’s flight to Senegal where she stayed for two years before returning to the Welsh nest where she was born.

Catrin Finch, former royal harpist to Prince Charles and a star in the world of classical music, was born and raised on the coast near where the ospreys nested and came up with the idea of marrying the two musical cultures for a concert in 2012. But when renowned Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté had to cancel, Senegalese maestro Seckou Keita stood in, and a fruitful friendship and musical collaboration was born. The two instruments meshed together brilliantly, as did...