September 10, 2002
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

Salif Keita, “The Golden Voice of Africa,”
performs at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Salif Keita
• From Mali, one of the premier African vocalists
• Credited as a founder of Afro-pop
• His latest release is the mesmerizing acoustic album Moffou
• He performs with his dynamic band Wanda
• Wednesday, October 23 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General: $30/$27, UCSB students: $19/$16
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

Malian singer-songwriter Salif Keita, known around the world as “The Golden Voice of Africa” and one of the first international superstars to emerge from that continent, will perform with his band Wanda on Wednesday, October 23 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Keita is highly acclaimed for his searing voice, majestic demeanor and his sophisticated embrace of the traditional music of Mali’s Maninka culture, pan-African instruments and melodies, and rhythms from Cuban jazz and American rock and roll. His latest album, Moffou, temporarily shelves his world pop influences for a quieter but no less moving sound, all the better to highlight his soaring soulful vocals. After his Southern California debut in 1994, the Los Angeles Times raved, “It took Salif Keita all of three notes to show why phrases like ’the golden voice of Mali’ are constantly attached to the veteran singer...For all the sophistication, power and drama of the music, it was the stop-’em-dead-in-their-tracks quality of Keita’s voice that ruled.”

Born in 1949 in the village of Djoliba, Keita should have had an easy life, as he was a direct descendant of Sunjata Keita, the warrior-hunter prince who united various peoples into the Mande Empire in the 13th Century. However, Salif Keita was born an albino, a physical condition considered a curse in Africa. His outsider status increased as he was drawn to music, despite coming from a lineage far removed from the jelis, the social caste of musicians in Mande culture that are equivalent to the griots elsewhere in Africa. Despite his family’s disapproval, Keita began a singing career and soon joined the prestigious Rail Band, known for its Mande roots repertoire. In 1972 Keita felt he was pushed out of the band by singer Mory Kanté, and joined a competing band Les Ambassadeurs. The rivalry between these two groups turned Bamako, Mali’s capital, into one of West Africa’s most exciting centers for dance music through the 1970s.

Keita came to world attention upon moving to Paris in the 1980s. In 1987 he released Soro, breathtaking and seamless high-tech arrangements of Mande music with an international pop sensibility; the CD remains one of the best-selling African recordings ever. Since then he has recorded five more albums—Ko-Yan (1989), Amen (1991), L’Enfant Lion (1992), Folon...The Past (1995) and Papa (1999). Each release expanded his world music repertoire and his circle of musical collaborators; he has worked with jazz legends Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, intense guitarists Carlos Santana and Vernon Reid, charismatic divas Grace Jones and Cesaria Evora.

His latest release, Moffou, is named after a little handmade flute common to humble people and shares its name with the club he opened in Bamako to promote West African music. This exquisite CD is a return to his Malian roots. Despite the more laid-back nature of the album, Santa Barbara can expect a show like the one recently reviewed in the Manchester Guardian, which wrote: “Three numbers from the new album, Moffou, opened the set. Though the recordings have a predominantly acoustic timbre, the live band stormed into them, with driving percussion and effortless riffs and counter-riffs. The singers doubled their tempo for some frenzied on-the-spot jiggling, and the players inserted little bouts of instrumental virtuosity. But the distinctive harmonic and melodic language of Keita’s performance remains intact whatever the context.”

Salif Keita is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCSB-FM. His concert and residency is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Tickets are $30 and $27 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.