250: M’Bemba, by Salif Keita

Salif Keita (Mali)
M’Bemba (2005)
10 tracks, 60 minutes
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Salif Keita has spent his career at the top of his game. His first real engagement as a singer of the Rail Band, one of the two big dance bands of Bamako of the 1970s. After a few years of lighting up the Bamako scene with his golden voice, he left the band…and joined Les Ambassadeurs, the other big dance band of Bamako. In his spells with these two bands, he played with some of the biggest talents in Mandé music – Mory Kanté, Djelimady Tonkoura, Kanté Manfila, Cheick Tidiané Seck, Amadou Bagayoko and Kélétigui Diabaté to name just a handful.

Then in the 1980s, he moved to Paris to pursue a solo career and smashed that too. His first solo album from that period, 1987’s Soro, was a huge international hit that defined the terms of Afropop: this was dance music for the discerning listener, full of all the mod-cons but with a distinctive Malian flavour. At the dawn of the ‘world music’ boom, the album made Salif Keita a superstar. After more successful albums throughout the 90s, 2002’s Moffou changed the game again, with a more down-to-earth production and much more focused on Keita’s own take on Malian traditions as opposed to pushing the boundaries of African pop. While there were still upbeat tracks on the album, it was the quieter, more contemplative and acoustic songs that really grabbed the attention, and Keita had another hit on his hands.

So now we get to M’Bemba from 2005 and it is, for me, a career high point for Keita. For this one, it feels as if he’s amalgamated all of the different aspects that made each of his previous sounds so special, turning them into one masterful sound. In his dance band days, the music was based on traditional Malian styles – especially that of the griots – but vamped up with a Cuban edge; then his style went to pop and disco, and the production turned his music into international dancefloor hits; in his later, more introspective work, he went back to his roots, using mostly traditional instruments and wrote music that connected with ancient pathways. In M’Bemba, the sound is stripped back and mostly acoustic, but the way he approaches the compositions gives them a real bite that keeps them perfect for dancing.

He made this album in the studio he built himself in Bamako – it’s the first album he’d made there since his Ambassadeurs days. That’s not the only return, either, as the lead guitar and arrangements on the album are provided by Kanté Manfila. The involvement of Kanté and other musicians including the legendary kora player Toumani Diabaté give this album a real traditional edge while still creating something excitingly new.

Of course, the highlight of the album is Keita’s voice. Over 35 years into his musical career and his voice belts somehow even more powerfully than ever. It’s an immediately recognisable sound with that indefinable quality that separates great singers from unbeatable ones – he has all of the subtlety and techniques that you could ask for, but what makes him special is…I don’t know. Maybe it’s just the particular shape of his vocal cords that sets him apart, or something equally minute, but whatever it is, it certainly works. It’s what he sings, too: as a member of the royal bloodline, he was never supposed to sing, that’s a job for the griots, so when he did sing, his own vocal style imitated the griots in so many ways but with the freedom to change things up, bringing elements of other types of voice and musical styles into his performance.

Considering his string of international successes, M’Bemba is never really viewed with the same reverie among fans as Soro or Moffou in Keita’s discography. But for me, it shows exactly why he is such a special talent. His voice is a Malian treasure all by itself, but his gorgeous balancing of the very serious and traditional alongside fun, danceable and internationally-conscious side of music leaves this album with something for all his fans regardless of what era they prefer, while still maintaining a coherent, beautiful sound throughout.