Artists
who's who and who's doing what?Seckou Keita
- country:Senegal
- region:West Africa
- label:Jalikunda records
- artist submitted by:
This multitalented artist, with a fantastic musical family pedigree, represents the emergence of a new generation of African musicians.
Seckou Keita has a unique style which blends melody with rhythm. It is so unique that he is certainly one of the very few kora players able to get people out of their chairs and up on their feet!
Born in 1977 in the green region of Casamance (south of Senegal), Seckou is a descendant of the Keita family of Kings from Mali. Seckou's lineage would normally not allow him to become a Jali (griot) but he was raised by his mother's family, the Cissokho's, a well established griot family in Senegal.
Although a kora player through the griot tradition, his thirst for music has also made him an outstanding drummer and percussionist.
His international career took off in 1996 under the guidance of his uncle Solo Cissokho, living in Scandinavia.
He performed at the Forde festival in Norway with musicians from Norway, India and Cuba. The group combined the traditional music from each of the countries represented to create a new musical style.
This led to a tour for the group the following year at the Global Music Festival in India where they performed with Dr L. Subbrimaniam, an internationally renowned violinist and composer.
In 1998, Seckou relocated to the UK where he became a member of Baka Beyond. He performed all over Europe (the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Portugal, Greece and of course the UK) in festivals such as Womad and Glastonbury.
In the middle of 2000, Seckou started recording his first album "Baiyo" (meaning Orphan). The album was finally released on 20th June 2001. Baiyo represents Seckou's journey from Africa to Europe via India!
He also participated in the ETE project which released an album in November 2001 and which led to a UK tour on March 2002.
In 2001, he impressed audiences as a solo performer at Womad (Las Palmas), the Sacred Music Festival (Ireland) and at the Jazz Café (London) for the Africa night broadcasted by BBC Radio 3. This was such a success that he was nominated by by the listeners of Radio 3 for the World Music Award 2001.
As a musicians family, the Cissokho's have always dreamt of being united to carry on the powerful tradition throughout the world and to introduce in its modern form. This dream was first mentioned by Solo the patriarch of the family Solo Cissokho and was called Jalikunda (the House of Griots).
In 2002, Seckou carried on this idea by inviting 4 members of his family to tour all over UK in renowned festivals such as Glastonbury (Jazz/World Stage), Womad festival and Window of the World where the band performed alongside Cheikh Lo and Papa Wemba.
This was such a success that he decided to produce the first family album which will be released in March 2003.
Seckou continues his solo career in an international tour taking place in Singapore and Australia leading to Womad festival in August/September 2002.
In October/November 2002, he will concentrate on the arrangement of the Jalikunda album as well as performing in few European festival such as Suoni Di Mundi in Italy.
His personality, …, his brilliance on the….half-guitar, half-harp contraption known as the Kora, could fill the Albert Hall
Rhythm Magazine, January 1999
