KELENA FOLY (vinyl)

Description

Cheick Tidiane Seck first laid his fingers on a keyboard in the late 1960s, on a harmonium at the Catholic convent in Sikasso where he was a boarder, preparing for his BEPC exam (Brevet d'études du premier cycle, a French academic diploma). Since the age of 12, he had been orally composing pieces for his mother, a renowned singer. Recognizing his talent, a nun gave him solfège lessons during his three years of schooling. With his diploma in hand, he enrolled in fine arts at the National Institute of Arts in Bamako and would play the organ at night, like his idol Jimmy Smith, with the Rail Band at the Buffet de la Gare. He also used his free evenings to play the Institute's piano after the music students had gone home. - - Quickly adopted by the Malian capital's music community, he embarked on African tours with Les Ambassadeurs, then settled in Abidjan before arriving in France in the mid-1980s. Since then, he has collaborated with numerous jazz artists (Randy Weston, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ornette Coleman...), African musicians (Manu Dibango, Salif Keita...), and pop artists (Damon Albarn, Carlos Santana...). - - After the international success of the album Sarala, which he arranged and co-directed with Hank Jones, Cheick released four albums under his own name, showcasing his mastery of electric keyboards, from the Hammond organ to the Moog. - - Kelena Fôly (meaning "to express oneself alone in music" in the Bamana language) is his first solo album in almost fifty years of career. Here, there is no amplification, but his deep voice and the Steinway grand piano of Studio Pigalle. Cheick plays titles rooted in the Mandingo tradition, such as the track Kana Kassi, which recounts an episode from the life of the founder of the Wassoulou Empire, Samory Touré. He also invites us into his American adventures with '56 Walker Street,' a theme written at that Manhattan address where, in the early 2000s, he led legendary jam sessions with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Roy Hargrove, Vernon Reid... - - Kelena Fôly revolves around his poignant tribute to Aimé Césaire. Cheick Tidiane Seck recites an excerpt from the poem 'Souffles' by another proponent of Négritude, Birago Diop, recalling the Martinican poet's invitation to play in Fort-de-France for the 120th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. The only cover on the album is his version of 'Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,' into which he incorporates a verse in Bamana dedicated to his own mother. - - The album closes with an improvised track recorded in one take. Corona is a message of love for humanity from a musician who survived Covid-19. Hospitalized in Bamako in December 2020 and placed on oxygen, Cheick felt himself slipping away before slowly returning to life. Now fully recovered, the "warrior" has resumed his incessant travels between continents and offers us this album where he brings together jazz, blues, Mandingo music, and other unified African traditions.