Salif Keita

Salif Keita (born 25 August 1949) is a Malian singer-songwriter, born in the village of Djoliba to the Keita royal family that traces its descent to Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, and known as the "Golden Voice of Africa". ^{1 2} Cast out by his family and community over his albinism and over taking up singing, an occupation reserved to the griot caste, he left for Bamako, then Abidjan, then Paris, becoming one of Africa's best-known voices in the world, and has devoted part of his later work to people with albinism. ^{1 3}

He was born at Djoliba on 25 August 1949; the French article notes that he is commonly considered a direct descendant of Sundiata Keita. ^{1 2} He hoped to become a teacher, but the poor eyesight that comes with his albinism barred him; his decision to become a singer scandalised his family — in Mandinka culture music is reserved to the griot caste, and the Keita are a family of princes — and he was rejected and left Djoliba, in 1967 by the English article's account, moving to Bamako in 1968 by the Arabic article's. ^{1 3 2}

In Bamako he sang in nightclubs and joined the government-sponsored Super Rail Band, and in 1973 moved to Les Ambassadeurs; in the mid-1970s he and the band fled political unrest in Mali for Abidjan, Ivory Coast, becoming Les Ambassadeurs Internationaux. ^{1 3} In 1976 Guinea's president Sékou Touré made him an Officer of Guinea's National Order of Merit, and Keita returned the honour with the song "Mandjou" (1978), a praise song for Touré and the Mandinka people, whose album was an overnight success in West Africa. ^{1 2}

He moved to Paris in 1984 for a larger audience and a solo career, living at Montreuil and performing for the Malian immigrant community there. ^{1 2} After the turn of the millennium he returned to Bamako to live and record, building a studio there that he used for M'Bemba (2005). ¹ He is the father of the paralympic athlete Nantenin Keita, and the Arabic article reports that he runs a children's village for children with albinism and homeless children, which he funds and where he teaches music. ^{1 3}

Soro was his international breakthrough album: the French article dates it to 1986 and names its producer as the Senegalese Ibrahima Sylla, while the English article dates it to 1987. ^{2 1} In 1988 he performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in London, and in 1990 he contributed to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Blue. ^{1 2}

Moffou (2002), his first work after returning home, was hailed as his best album in many years; M'Bemba followed in 2005, and La Différence, produced around the end of 2009, is dedicated to the struggle of the world's albino community — in one track he calls on people to understand that "difference" does not mean "bad" and that everyone deserves love and dignity — and it won Best World Music at the 2010 Victoires de la Musique. ¹ Guest artists on his albums have included Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Carlos Santana and the Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. ¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

Albinism as his cause. The English article says he has crusaded all his life for the world albino community and that La Différence was made for that struggle; the Arabic article reports his children's village for children with albinism, where he teaches music. ^{1 3} His work was also sometimes criticised — the English article notes the gloss of some productions and occasional haphazard quality, and the Arabic article notes early criticism of his finish. ^{1 3}

His faith. The only religious statement in any source is the English article's sentence that he was "raised in a Muslim family" and "went to an Islamic school" where his Qur'an teacher's singing influenced him. That is family background and childhood schooling, not an attestation of his own school; the French and Arabic articles and Wikidata state no religion for him at all, and no source names a school for Keita himself, so the museum records his faith as unknown. ^{1 2 4}

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.