WOMAD

Seckou Keita & the Jalikunda

From Senegal

Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2002:It’s always exciting and intriguing to hear a very old musical tradition being reinvigorated by a very young and very talented musician. Seckou Keita is a member of the royal Keita dynasty from Mali but he was born in Casamance, a southern province of Senegal in 1977. His lofty birth might have prevented him from becoming a ‘jali’ or griot, a traditional West African praise singer, were it not for the fact that he was raised by his mother’s family, the Cissokho’s, who were renowned griots from Senegal. Seckou learned the kora in the bosom of his family but he also developed a remarkable flair for drumming and percussion early in life. He started to perform at the crispy age of seven, with his famous uncle Solo Cissokho, and by twelve he had his own band, Coute Diomboulou. In 1996, Seckou left Africa for Scandinavia where he continued to perform at festivals with musicians from the world over. In 1998 he moved to the UK and became a member of Bath based global fusion pioneers Baka Beyond. Seckou also met and became firm friends with Kevin Willoughby, a dedicated Senegalese music aficionado, who has worked with Youssou N’Dour and Baba Maal amongst many others. Seckou recorded his debut album ‘Baiyo’, which means ‘Orphan’, which was released in the summer of 2000 and went on to impress audiences throughout Europe as a solo artist, earning a nomination from BBC Radio 3 listeners for a World Music Award in 2001. Jalikunda means ‘house of the Jalis’ in the Mandinka language of West Africa, and the group comprises two koras, bass and percussion. Their sound drills deep into African soil whilst breathing in all kinds of eclectic jazzy influences wafting in from who knows where.