Salif Keita — Moussolou
Moffou · 2002
Label: Universal · Genre: Soul / Afro-Pop / Acoustic · From: Bamako, West Africa
Moffou was the album Salif Keita made when he had nothing left to prove. After Soro, after the electric guitars and European production, he returned to something quieter — acoustic instruments, stripped arrangements, the sound of Bamako at night. He recorded it in the studio he built in his family compound. Moffou means a fragile kind of bird in Bambara. The title track is three minutes of complete stillness, just voice and kora, and it is one of the most beautiful recordings in African music. It won the Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2003.
Did you know: Salif Keita used his Grammy winnings from Moffou to fund the construction of a school in Bamako for albino children — the community he had grown up belonging to and that had been most rejected by the society that had also rejected him for being royal. The school still operates.
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