Salif Keita

Post by **vison** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 6:38 pm

This man was in Vancouver recently. I couldn't go to see him, but I wish I had.

I was going to post this in Voronwë's Africa threads, but I guess this is a better place. Anyone else here ever heard his music?

Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:25 pm

I wish you had, too. He has one of the most beautiful, powerful voices in the world, and his band is incredible. One of my very favorite artists in the world.

Post by **vison** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:59 pm

I haven't heard much of his music, but I'm going to. I really, really wanted to go to this concert but I wasn't up to it. Maybe next time.

Post by **tinwë** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 2:51 am

I'm not where I can listen to any samples of his music right now, but I have really been getting into African music recently after listening to Bela Fleck's Africa Sessions recordings. Fleck, a Bluegrass banjo player by training, traveled across Africa to trace the origins of the banjo and recorded some incredible stuff with all sorts of local musicians as he went. It's really good stuff and I'd like to hear more like it. Do you have anything by Keita that you would recommend Voronwë? He has a long list of albums out, so it would be nice to know where to start.

By the way, I have also fallen in love with and very highly recommenced Peter Gabriel's Big Blue Ball project which he recorded with musicians from all over the world over the span of several years (and then spent nearly fifteen years putting it together in a published form). It is "World Music" but it has very definite African flavor to it.

Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:05 am

tinwë, you really can't go wrong. But since I was just listening to it, I'll recommend "The Mansa of Mali" (which means the king of Mali).

Salif has an interesting history. He is a direct descendent of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire, and as such should never have become a musician or singer under the Mandingue caste system. Also, he is an Albino, and has been subject to discrimination. In fact, his most recent album, "La Différence" is dedicated to the struggle of the world Albino community. I've not heard it, but I understand that it has a somewhat less traditional tone than most of the rest of his work. I am sure that it is great, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a first introduction to him.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:09 am

I haven't had time today to listen to music, but here is his songs page at AllMusic (which I found from the Wikipedia article vison linked to). There are (samples of?) ten songs from Mansa of Mali.

Edit: Went and listened, and they are samples, maybe 30 seconds, but it does give a taste.