World Athletics Gala 2004 (© IAF)
The 2004 edition of the World Athletics Gala, which takes place this Sunday night at the Grimaldi Forum, Monte-Carlo, not only brings together the best athletes in the world but is the opportunity to showcase a major international musical star - Salif Keita – who is known as the Caruso of Africa for his striking vocal talents.
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 guitar, organ, and sax, Keita's sound also includes traditional African instruments such as the kora, balafon, and djembe, often synthesized and sampled.
His latest album is called Moffou, also the name of the club he has opened in Bamako to promote the West African Musical scene. Moffou expresses Keita’s desire to return to his roots by revisiting the cultures, rituals and traditions of his native Mali.
Keita, who was born an albino, is a direct descendent of Sundiata Keita, the Mandinka warrior king who founded the Malian empire in the 13th century. Keita began playing in nightclubs with one of his brothers in 1968 and by 1973 he joined Les Ambassadeurs where he began extending his reputation beyond the boundaries of Mali.
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.