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Salif Keita, round the world and back

The Ambassador of Mandingo Sounds


Paris 

20/10/2005 - 

Over the past thirty years, Salif Keita's reputation has spread from his native Mali all over the world. And the velvet-voiced singer has followed in its wake, performing all the way from London's Royal Festival Hall to the trendiest New York venues. Meanwhile, on the recording front Keita has put his name to a series of seminal albums such as Soro and Moffou (both cult references on the 'world music' scene). The ambassador of Mandingo music recently returned to live in his homeland, where he recorded his new album, M’Bemba.

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Salif Keita is used to life on the road. It started in 1978, the day he left Bamako and his resident group Les Ambassadeurs du Motel and upped sticks to Abidjan where, with a few old colleagues from the Rail Band, he set up Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux with Kanté Manfila. In 1984, Salif Keita moved again, this time flying overseas to begin a new life in France. Later that same year, he proved to be one of the hottest new discoveries at the Angoulême festival (a renowned springboard for African music in Europe). Three years later, Keita went on to release his debut album under his own name: the excellent Soro. The album, which featured arrangements by  François Bréant and Jean-Philippe Rykiel, remains one of the highlights in his prolific recording career. Unfortunately, it is only available in France as an import. According to the album's producer, Ibrahim Syllart, Soro - distributed in France and the rest of the world by Socadisc excluding England (where it is available from Stern’s Records) -  has sold 300,000 copies worldwide and over 100,000 in France.

In 1988, Salif Keita hit the road again, travelling to Wembley stadium in the UK to perform at Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday celebrations. (He shared the stage with other African music greats such as Youssou N’Dour, Ray Lema and Sly & Robbie). Signed to the Island label, Keita clocked up album after album, gradually carving out a reputation as one of the major singers on the African music scene. Albums included Amen (1991), produced by Joe Zawinul and featuring guest appearances by Santana and Wayne Shorter); Folon… the past (1995), produced by Wally Badarou and Papa (1999), recorded between Bamako, New York and Paris and co-produced with Vernon Reid (the guitarist from Living Colour).

In 2002, Salif Keita returned to his traditional music roots, releasing the acoustic album Moffou (recorded in the same low-tech spirit as his new album M’Bemba). Moffou sold 100,000 copies in France and notched up 150,000 in export sales (proving a big hit in the US, England, Spain, Greece and Portugal).  It became something of a cult 'world' album in the process, inspiring a group of DJs and electronic music producers to produce their own club version of it, Remixes From Moffou (released in 2004). Meanwhile, on the live front, Keita conquered audiences far and wide with his charismatic concert performances. Landmark concerts included an appearance at the legendary Olympia music-hall in Paris and two sell-out concerts at Irving Plazza in New York in 2002. The ambassador of Mandingo music also brought the house down when he performed at London's prestigious Royal Festival Hall and at all the leading music festivals in 2003 (Les Vieilles Charrues, Paleo, Roskile, Rabat, etc.) Salif Keita was honoured at the annual Kora All-Africa Music Awards in South Africa, winning a coveted Kora award in 2004.

Patrick  Labesse