Competition: Win tickets to Band On The Wall

Now Then have teamed up with the revered leftfield venue Band On The Wall to offer the prize of a pair of tickets to one of two upcoming events on their hallowed stage. You can choose between Apollo Brown on Thursday 6 March and Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba on Tuesday 11 March.

The Detroit hip hop beatsmith Apollo Brown makes his Manchester debut on Thursday 6 March with his Ugly Heroes crew. Having worked with the likes of Danny Brown, Guilty Simpson and Ghostface, Apollo Brown is one of the leading lights in a new breed of US hip hop producers. He released Ugly Heroes’ eponymous LP with fellow members Red Pill and Verbal Kent in May 2013 on the Mello Music Group imprint.



Support comes from Union Blak and Manchester's very own Jonny Dub from the Hoya:Hoya family.

Then on Tuesday 11 March, the esteemed Malian Bassekou Kouyate will visit Band On The Wall with his backing band, Ngoni ba. He has been described as a visionary for reinventing the Ngoni, an ancient West African stringed instrument, and popularising its sound with a contemporary audience. After a debut album, Segu Blue, in 2007 via Out Here Records, Kouyate received a pair of awards at the BBC3 Awards for World Music.



His third and most recent album, Jama ko, was recorded during the 2012 coup d’état in Mali, which ushered in a period of uncertainty for the country’s musicians. But, even if performing in their home nation is more precarious, Kouyate and his band continue to perform to large audiences across the globe.

For your chance to win a pair of tickets to either show, just like and share the Facebook photo at the other end of this link, remembering also to leave a comment underneath the original photo stating your preferred show.

For the Apollo Brown show, we’ll draw a winner out of the hat on Wednesday 5 March, so make sure you enter the competition by midnight on Tuesday 4 March if that’s your choice of gig.

Then, for the Bassekou Kouyate show, we’ll draw a winner out of that hat on Monday 10 March, so make sure you enter the competition by midnight on Sunday 9 March.

Good luck!