Life & Work

Salif Keita to thrill at Safaricom Jazz Lounge

Keita

Salif Keita (right) at the Michael Joseph Centre this week flanked by Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore. PHOTO | SIMON MAINA |

Malian music legend Salif Keita is the star attraction for tomorrow’s Safaricom Jazz Lounge at the Bomas of Kenya. The concert featuring the artist who is widely hailed as “The Golden Voice of Africa” is a precursor to the Safaricom International Jazz festival.

Fans of the Malian maestro have been delighted with the news of this show because his last public performance in Kenya was at the Carnivore in October 2011. At the time, he was promoting the album “La Difference” whose theme explicitly confronts the plight of people, who like him, are albinos.

Keita was back in Kenya in 2013 but only to record a session for the first episode of the Coke Studio East Africa TV show. Speaking then, he said the motivation for his music comes from representing people whose voices are muffled.

“My inspiration comes from those who do not have the opportunity to express themselves because of the problems around them.” This was obviously a reference to his campaign on behalf of those who face persecution due to albinism.

Since 2006, the Salif Keita Foundation has donated more than US $ 200,000 (close to Ksh20 million) from proceeds of album sales and concert fees to buy sunscreen lotion, sunglasses and medical care for people with albinism in Mali. He surmounted not just his skin condition but also opposition from his own family to his interest in music to become the star that he is today.

As a direct descendant of Sundiata Keita, the Mandika warrior king who founded the Malian empire in the 13th century, tradition excluded him from the lower singing class.

However, he broke this taboo and started singing in the streets and bars of Bamako before joining two of the most famous Malian bands. The first of these was the Super Rail Band, which he left in 1973, and moved to the rival group, Les Ambassadeurs where he played alongside his musical confidante the guitarist Kante Manfila.

Mandingo music

By the start of the 1980s, Keita had relocated to Paris where he became a star with his blend of traditional Mandingo music, influences from the rest of West Africa and contemporary western styles as heard on albums like “Soro” (1987) and “Amen” (1991).

His last album “Tale” released in 2012 combined these traditional acoustic rhythms with an electronic dance music edge, along with guest performers like Manu Dibango, Bobby McFerrin and Esperanza Spalding.

Salif Keita is the latest among a host of major African music stars to have performed at either the Safaricom Jazz festival/Jazz Lounge The festival began in 2014 with Cameroonian singer, songwriter, bassist and composer Richard Bona and since then, has featured greats like Jimmy Dludlu from Mozambique and South Africa’s Jonathan Butler.

“The Safaricom Jazz Lounge is a series of concerts designed to give upcoming and established local talent a platform to showcase their music, while treating jazz fans to a performance by an international act,” says Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.

Opening act

In February this year, saxophonist Juma Tutu and Swahili Jazz Band performed alongside Butler impressing many fans with their unique brand of jazz fused with Coastal rhythms like Nzele and Chakacha.

This weekend, the opening act for Salif Keita will be jazz pianist James Gogo and the Gogo Simo Band. Gogo whose official name is Marcus James Jozee started his career as a pianist with Safari Sound Band in Mombasa before forming the band Gogosimo in 2002.

After three albums with the band, he released his solo album “Finding the Keys” in April 2014 which contained jazzy versions of timeless Swahili hits by Fundi Konde, Joseph Ngala, Safari Sound Band.

That album also featured guest artists like vocalist Mercy Myra and Ugandan saxophonist Isaac Katumwa. Gogo describes his sound as Afro-smooth, easy listening yet danceable, blending coastal rhythms with Afro-pop and Western instrumentation.

Korogocho

Apart from his father who was a saxophonist and introduced him to music as a child, he also draws influences from Stevie Wonder, Oscar Patterson and Mzee Joseph Ngala of Bango music fame. His repertoire for the Saturday concert will be music from his first album as well as fresh tracks from his upcoming album “A Step Ahead” which is set for release later in the year.

He was in a very upbeat mood as he rehearsed with the band earlier in the week. “I live for these kinds of shows,” he said.

“When you have an African who is established in the world music circuit like Salif Keita, his presence automatically raises the bar for me and other local musicians.”

Gogo is, however, no stranger to high-profile concerts having performed as an opening act for both Bona and Dludlu at the Safaricom International Jazz Festival in 2014. In May this year, he and Katumwa played at a show that was headlined by South African star Hugh Masekela in Uganda.

Advance tickets for the Safaricom Jazz Lounge cost Sh1,500 shillings and Sh2,000 at the gate and all proceeds will be donated to the Ghetto Classics. The first festival raised Sh4.5 million for the project that provides music lessons for children in the slums of Korogocho.