On a rainy day, there is nothing more uplifting than reading a light comic novel whilst listening to the “Golden Voice of Africa” – Salif Keita. Having already heard ‘Madan’ from the album Moffou (2002) I decided to foray into his world by giving the whole album a listen. Moffou is a (nearly) pure organic album. All the instruments except for an electric bass are acoustic West African strings and percussion. The opening track ‘Yamore’, a duet with Cape Verdean artist Cesaria Evora written in French and Portuguese beautifully blends the mystery that is Latin America and the sensuousness that is the French language and took me back to the streets of San Telmo. ‘Iniagige’ a solo performance with Kieta backed by his own lyrical guitar exposes the delicate timbre of this truly golden voice. While most of the other songs are subdued with an accordion adding a little bit of variation now and then the, Rumba on ‘Madan’ and ‘Baba’ are bound to engulf you and your surrounding. Especially ‘Madan’. It will want to make you (live) dance with abandon. Augmented by background vocals ‘Ana Na Ming’ and ‘Koukou’ are a good refrain before the last track ‘Here’.
Definitely in the top five of my growing list of ‘Foreign Language’ albums.
When to listen: On a rainy day, with Wodehouse and Earl Grey for company.
