Salif Keita, born in 1949 in Djoliba, is sometimes called the Golden Voice of Africa. He is a direct descendent of Sundiata Keita, the Mandinka warrior king who founded the Malian empire in the 13th century. Born an albino – a sign of bad luck – Keita was shunned and ostracized by his family and community alike. His poor eyesight also contributed to his personal sense of alienation. In 1967 he moved to Bamako where he began playing in nightclubs with one of his brothers. Two years later he joined the 16 member, government sponsored Rail Band that played at the Bamako railway station’s Buffet Hotel de la Gare – a very choice gig at the time. In 1973 he left the Rail Band along with Kante Manfila (guitarist, composer, and leader of the band) to join Les Ambassadeurs.
By 1977, with Keita and Les Ambassadeurs reputation extending beyond the boundaries of Mali, he was awarded the National Order of Guinea by President Ahmed Sekou Toure. In return, Keita composed Mandjou, telling the history of the Mali people and praising Sekou Toure. This hauntingly beautiful song features Keita’s typical sound of guitar, organ, and sax. To see him perform it concert is an occasion you will never forget.
Due to increasing political unrest, Keita left Mali in the mid-’70s for Abidjan, capitol of Cote D’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast), the other members of the band followed suit and they changed the name of the band to Les Ambassadeurs Internationales. By 1984 Keita had relocated to Paris in order to reach a wider, more European audience, where he joined other African stars like Mory Kante, Toure Kunda, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Ray Lema, Papa Wemba, and Manu Dibango among many others. He lived in the Montreuil section of Paris among the some 15,000 Malians there.
Keita’s music blends together the traditional griot music of his Malian childhood with other West African influences from Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal, along with influences from Cuba, Spain, and Portugal, and an unmistakably overall Islamic sound. Besides the aforementioned guitar, organ, and sax, Keita’s sound also includes traditional African instruments such as the kora, balafon, and djembe, often synthesized and sampled.
Predictions of success proved true with the release of Keita’s debut solo album, Soro, in 1987. Produced by Ibrahim Sylla, the album combined African, jazz, funk, Europop, and R&B influences. Keita continued his recording career with several releases for Mango throughout the ’90s, including the Mansa of Mali anthology, before moving to Blue Note for Papa in 1999 and then Decca, where he debuted with Moffou in 2002. Moffou was considered some of Keita’s finest work to date, and he received a Grammy nomination for the album. Keita then returned to Bamako, Mali, in order to record his next full-length effort, M’Bemba, which came out in 2006.
Keita’s album La Différence was produced around the end of 2009. The work is dedicated to the struggle of the world albino community (victims of human sacrifice), for which Keita has been crusading all his life. In one of the album’s tracks, the singer calls others to understand that “difference” does not mean “bad” and to show love and compassion towards albinos like everyone else: “I am black/ my skin is white/ so I am white and my blood is black [albino]/…I love that because it is a difference that’s beautiful”, “some of us are beautiful some are not/some are black some are white/all that difference was on purpose…for us to complete each other/let everyone get his love and dignity/the world will be beautiful.”
La Différence was recorded between Bamako, Beirut, Paris, and Los Angeles. This unique musical feel is reinforced by soulful pitches in the track “Samigna” emanating from the trumpet of the great Lebanese jazzman Ibrahim Maalouf. La Différence won Keita one of the biggest musical awards of his career: the Best World Music 2010 at the Victoires de la Musique.
