Senegal with Seckou Keita
My next journey would be to Senegal. I knew quite a lot of music from Mali which is very close musically in many ways, but not as much from Senegal, so thought it would be great to get a guest on the show who could guide me. I had been listening to quite a lot of music by Seckou Keita as part of the preparation for the show and decided to try to contact him through his Instagram account and, luckily for me, I got a reply! He put me in touch with Tamsin Davies of MWLDAN who set up the call for us. We did the interview with Seckou when he was in Senegal (his usual residence is in the UK now) which was a real pleasure and really insightful about his story, but also about the music of Senegal and the Griot culture and way of life.
I asked Seckou if he would select one of his own tunes for the show and he chose Mande. He sent me this note about the song before our interview:
‘The title refers to the style. It’s very Manding. You can hear it in the groove. It’s one of the uptempo tracks on the album. And when I say ‘Mandé’, basically I’m talking about m’Bemba, which means ‘my ancestors’ in Mandinka, who were kings at the time. So this is basically a song in praise of the Keita family. It’s a very Manding way of approaching it, which is different to Gabou style. The Mandé are very lively and open.' - SK
This is the first time I have done an interview for the show and it opened my eyes to how much I could learn. The whole project was always intended as a way to discover the music of Africa, and it’s clear that getting guests on the show who can educate both me, and the listeners, is one of the best ways to do that.
Full Tracklist:
Nuru Kane - Çigil
Toure Kunda - Toure Kunda - Natalia
Thione Seck - Mbarodi - Daaly
Soriba Kouyaté - Kaïra - Bamana
Kaouding Cissoko - Kora Revolution - Kora Revolution
Kadialy Kouyate - Kano Dua - Kano Dua
Seckou Keita - Mikhi Nathan Mu-Toma - 22 Strings
Seckou Keita Interview
Seckou Keita - N'doké - 22 Strings
Catrin Finch, Seckou Keita - Llongau térou-bi - Clychau Dibon
Seckou Keita - Mande
Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita - Ceffylau - Clychau Dibon
Catrin Finch - 1677 - SOAR
Catrin Finch, Seckou Keita - Bamba - Clychau Dibon
Sekou Keita - Now or Never
Seckou Keita - Distance Rewmi
Seckou Keita - Am Am
Rokia Traore - Ka Moun Kè - Beautiful Africa
Toure Kunda - E'mma E'mma - Africa
Toure Kunda - Baounane - Paris-Ziguinchor
Orchestra Baobab - Gnawou - Bamba
Baaba Maal - Lampenda - The Traveler
