Seckou Keita

Born in Ziguinchor, Senegal, in 1978, Seckou Keita roots his career in the heritage of Mandinka music and the repertoire of Casamance, moving between the griot tradition, personal composition and dialogue with other acoustic scenes. A kora player and percussionist, Keita launched his international career in the mid-1990s under the guidance of his uncle Solo Cissokho, before settling in the United Kingdom in 1999. His work develops an approach to the kora that is both grounded in West African forms and open to folk, jazz and transatlantic crossovers. After a spell as a drummer with Baka Beyond, he released Baiyo in 2000, and with the Seckou Keita Quartet issued Tama Silo: Afro Mandinka Soul in 2006 and Silimbo Passage in 2008. The rest of his discography reflects this ongoing movement between solo projects and collaborations, including Miro (2012), 22 Strings (2015) and African Rhapsodies (2023) with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Keita has also sustained close partnerships with Welsh harpist Catrin Finch on Clychau Dibon (2013) and SOAR (2018), and with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa on Transparent Water (2017) and SUBA (2021).