Lyrics | Artists | Salif Keita

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Salif Keita

A direct descendant of the founder of the Mali empire, Sundiata Keita, Salif Keita was nevertheless ostracised by his local community and cast out by his family due to being born with albinism, a sign of bad luck in Mandinka culture. Moving to Bamako in his teens, he joined a government sponsored band, the Super Rail Band de Bamako. In the early 1970s he moved on to Les Ambassadeurs, fleeing Mali with them during a period of unrest and gaining a strong reputation as an irresistible live act as they toured various parts of Africa. In the 1980s Keita moved to Paris, and merged the ...