salif keita - the early years (Wrasse)

salif keita - the early years

Those of us who have despaired of finding the early music of Salif Keita can now relax with the release of The Best Of The Early Years (Wrasse Records). Although 'the golden voice of Mali' has forged a highly successful international career with a powerful hi-tech jazzy style that has undeniably produced some very exciting music, it is to these recordings which date from the mid to late 70s that any self-respecting Afrophile should direct her/himself.

Recorded at a time when the singer was either with Rail Band or Les Ambassadeurs Internationales, the sound may be thin and the balance leave something to be desired at times, but the music is absolutely astonishing. Salif's voice pierces the exquisite interplay of electric and acoustic guitars, electric and acoustic keyboards, sax, trumpet, bobbing bass and barely audible percussion like a shamanistic force of nature.

He captures and encapsulates the modernisation of Malian and West African music in general on a cusp of creative fire that avidly consumes elements of Cuban, jazz and blues and mixes them with local rhythms and melodies to create music that ranges from intense wistfulness to kaleidoscopic forays into uncharted territory. Guitarist Kante Manfila's dry guitar is all over the place spattering cascades of notes in possessed yet hauntingly beautiful displays of virtuosity that beggar words of adequate description.

It's a pity that the generally informative liner notes don't mention the other great musicians who perform here. Two of the three tracks that I had possessed previously, Sedou Bathili and Super Coulou are from the classic Les Ambassadeurs Internationales featuring Salif Keita (Rounder) but that album doesn't have personnel listings either. It probably seems moot to pick favourites out of this 9 song treasury which stretches almost 75 minutes, but the hyperkinetic N'toman is an exciting and enduring favourite. So is the haunting Mandjou, the 12:42 epic which closes the album.

Just listen to the relaxed intensity and authority of the electric organ and guitar as they add spiritual sustenance to Salif's Islamic tinged, soaring voice on this majestic praise epic which the singer composed in honour of Guinean president Sekou Toure after having received The National Order Of Guinea in 1977. Feb 2003