MUSIC is all about collaboration - whether it is a band, an orchestra or individuals working together on a project, it is the idea of collaboration which makes everything work.

For Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita, it was a fortuitous meeting that grew into a beautiful collaboration, which now sees the duo releasing their second record and hitting the road once again.

The pair met in 2012 when Keita was drafted in from teaching in Italy to play the kora – a west African 21-stringed instrument – after a military coup had detained the Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté and prevented him from attending rehearsals for a major collaborative tour with young Welsh harpist Finch.

This meeting was Finch’s first exposure to the instrument and it was her fascination with its sound and chemistry with Keita which led to a friendship and partnership being formed.

As the two of them continued to play together, it quickly became apparent that two seeming disparate nations may in fact be closer than they first appeared.

“I’d be playing one of the traditional Welsh melodies, and Seckou would say – ‘I know that one’,” Finch said.

“It made us question whether in fact there was a deeper history there.”

The pair’s latest collaboration, SOAR, is based on the concept of a flying osprey which makes an annual 3,000-mile migration from the estuaries of west Wales, where Finch grew up, to Keita’s homeland of Senegal, west Africa.

Keita said: “I like the bird’s freedom to migrate to different places.

“They soar their way, and nothing stops them, but they know where they’re heading, where they’ll find peace and be happy. I’ve been on the same journey, but in a different way.”

And it is the story of this journey which has influenced the duo’s latest music, with other subjects such as importance of hospitality and welcoming of strangers being an important part of their respective cultures.

Keita adds: “For Senegalese people, hospitality isn’t just about being nice, it’s a big ritual.

“You’ll find someone who doesn’t have a penny to live on, but when a stranger arrives, they’ll do anything to make them feel happy and welcome.”

In the time that Finch and Keita have worked together, their music has continually evolved, even to the point they are reimagining old songs.

Finch said: “Over the last three or four years it’s [the music] morphed.

“Every time we play, we play slightly differently. We’d add something, and it’s become such a charged piece.”

Finch and Keita will perform at the Haymarket on May 24.