The original returns to the New York lounge performance scene.
Thursday, 14 September 2017
S.O.B.s 204 Varick Street New York NY 10014 USA
19:00 hours
$50.00 - $55.00 USD
Salif Keita's career as a musician will always be colored by the fact that he is a member of the Royal Family of Mali. In 1970 he was invited to play in Rail Band, an orchestra supported in part by public money that played in the restaurant of the railway hotel in Bamako. In Rail Band he came into contact with Kante Manfila who had many of the same ideas as Keita concerning the blending of disparate styles. After three years Keita and Manfila moved on to the (then) second most prolific group in Mali, Les Ambassadeurs, that had a more modern repertoire. The group's popularity soared and in 1978 Salif Keita was created "Minister for Music and Culture" by the president of neighboring Guinea. In gratitude, Salif Keita composed the song ‘Mandjou’, which was an enormous success. Keita and Manfila continued to develop their fusion music and create hypnotic sounds, one after the other, but in the 1980s Keita dissolved Les Ambassadeurs and set out on his solo career. Since then his meaningful influence has cropped up in many areas - from western pop and rock to Pink Floyd, among others