|
BULAWAYO — Hardly a few days after hosting one of the most accomplished artists to come out of Africa, Akon, Bulawayo will next week play host to another accomplished West African musician, Aly Keïta.
The well known and travelled balafon player will be in the country courtesy of an initiative by the Alliance Francaise to promote African artists.
Fabien Invernizzi, the director of Alliance Francaise in Bulawayo, confirmed that Keita originally from Mali will be jetting into the country for the show.
“Aly Keïta will be jetting in on Monday and will be performing in Bulawayo on Tuesday night at the Zimbabwe Music Academy,” he said.
“He is a well known balafon player and he is coming as part of our initiative to promote artists from Africa.”
A balafon is an instrument similar to Marimba and is popular in West Africa.
The balafon is traditionally the instrument of the griot, or the oral historians and songsmiths of West Africa.
Although the tradition lives on, it is not as a result of the griot that Keïta became famous.
Rather, it was due to his ability to take this millennium-old instrument into a modern musical context.
Keïta hails from a famous musical family, the same that produced Salif Keïta, one of West Africa’s most treasured songwriters and musical talents.
While rooted in tradition, Keïta’s Afro-pop, funk-fuelled rhythm section and taste for complex jazz-oriented arrangements set him far apart from most balafonists.
Keïta has since resettled in Germany and this has proved to be very beneficial as his instrumental brilliance earned him opportunities to collaborate with jazz and world music legends such as, Trilok Gurtu and Joe Zawinul, among many others.
Keïta made his debut as a bandleader in 2008. The record, entitled Akwaba Inisene, turned heads across Europe.
It debuted in the Top 20 on World Music Charts Europe.
He has also participated in a number of projects together with Omar Sosa, Rhoda Scott, H Lüdemann, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Paco Séry, Karim Ziad, among others.
In his compositions, Keïta speaks about everyday life, orphans and mothers and men’s shame.
BY LESLEY MOYO
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
