Mamady Keïta Explained

Birth Date:August 1950
Birth Place:Balandougou, Guinea
Death Date:21 June 2021 (aged 70)
Death Place:Brussels, Belgium
Occupation:Djembefola

Mamady Keïta (August 1950[1] – 21 June 2021) was a drummer from the West African nation of Guinea. He specialized in the djembe. He was also the founder of the Tam Tam Mandingue school of drumming. He was a member of the Manding ethnic group.

Early life

Keïta was born in the small village of Balandougou, Guinea, in the northeastern prefecture of Siguiri, near the border of Mali. Keïta was a direct descendant of the king Sundiata Keita.[2] By the age of five, he had developed his own technique of tone, slap, bass and learned the rhythms of his village and was playing Djembe in all of the ceremonies, celebrations and festivals. Technically, his actual initiation to the djembe started at the early age of seven, under Karinkadjan Kondé, elder master djembefola of Balandugu, who initiated him to the secrets of the djembe. Keïta was educated in the traditions of his village, learning the history and music of the Malinke people. At the age of twelve, he became a member of the first regional federal ballet of Siguiri after Balanka Sidiki, a recruiter for the group, came to Balandugu looking for performers.[3]

Career

At the time, Guinea was governed by Sékou Touré, who put special emphasis on Guinean culture through live performances and a system of local, regional, and national competitions that recruited the greatest artists of the land. During the National Festival in 1964, Keïta, then aged fourteen, along with fifty other percussionists and numerous other artists, was selected by Guinea's Minister of Culture to form Le Ballet National Djoliba (The Djoliba National Ballet), which was intended to serve as a showcase for Touré's revolution in Guinea.[4] After nine months of training, he was one of only five percussionists retained.[5]

He was appointed lead soloist of Ballet Djoliba in 1965[6] and, in 1979, became its artistic director.[6] He stayed with Ballet Djoliba until 1986, when he joined Ballet Koteba in Côte d'Ivoire.[7]

In 1988, Keïta moved to Belgium where he worked as a performer and teacher. In 1991, he opened his first school Tam Tam Mandingue percussion school in Brussels, to be followed by additional schools in Europe, North America, and Asia,[8] [9] each run by a school director personally certified by Keïta for his/her playing skill and teaching abilities.[10]

Up until his death, Keïta worked as a performer with his group Sewa Kan and recorded a number of CDs. He also taught internationally, running international workshops in Europe, North America, and Asia, as well as an annual camp in Africa.[11] He published a large body of djembe teaching materials on CD and DVD, as well as an instructional book.[3]

He resided in Monterrey, Mexico.[12] On 21 June 2021, Keïta died in Belgium after being admitted to hospital with a heart-related condition.

He performed with many other djembefola such as Bolokada Conde, Mohamed Diaby, Amara Kante, Barbara Bangoura, and many others. They all miss him very much, Bolokada Conde even created a rhythm for all passed djembefola but especially for Mamady.[13]

Discography

Films

Instructional videos

Instructional CDs

Instructional books

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Childhood. TTMDA. TTM Djembe Academy. en. 24 May 2020.
  2. Web site: The Madness of the Elephant. San Francisco Classical Voice. en. 24 May 2020.
  3. Book: Billmeier. Uschi. Keïta. Mamady. A Life for the Djembé—Traditional Rhythms of the Malinké. Arun-Verlag. 2004. 5th. 978-3-935581-52-3. Kirchhasel-Uhlstädt. 1999.
  4. Vera . Flaig . The Politics of Representation and Transmission in the Globalization of Guinea's Djembé . 15 January 2012 . University of Michigan . 2010 . Ph.D. . https://web.archive.org/web/20140428014120/http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75801/1/vhflaig_1.pdf . 28 April 2014 . live .
  5. "Djembefola" . Laurent Chevallier (director), Mamady Keïta (himself) . 1991 . 24 March 2013 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170211023704/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216717/ . 11 February 2017 .
  6. Web site: Lucas . Keen . 2021-06-24 . Mamady Keïta, the djembe falls silent . 2022-05-13 . PAM - Pan African Music . en-US.
  7. Web site: Mamady Keïta Master Drummer . 2022-05-15 . us-africa.tripod.com.
  8. Web site: Teachers . TTM Djembe Academy . Tam Tam Mandingue International . 6 March 2020 . en.
  9. Web site: TTM Schools & Teachers . 4 March 2012 . https://www.webcitation.org/65vSFsnh8?url=http://www.ttmusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=257&Itemid=29/ . 5 March 2012 . live . Tam Tam Mandingue .
  10. Web site: Tam Tam Mandingue Teacher/Director Certification Process . 1 January 2013 . dead . https://archive.today/20240526140657/https://www.webcitation.org/6FLGFtYiu?url=http://ttmusa.org/index.php%3Foption=com_content&view=article&id=259&Itemid=46/ . 26 May 2024 . Tam Tam Mandingue .
  11. Messengers of Tradition . DVD . Kelly Pederson (producer) . 2012 . Tam Tam Mandingue . 24 March 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130416163651/http://www.ttmmarket.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DFP-0070 . 16 April 2013 .
  12. Web site: inauthor:"United States. Congress. House" - Google Search . 2022-05-15 . www.google.com.
  13. Web site: Bruxelles: Mamady Djembé, un monument de la percussion mondiale s'est éteint . 21 June 2021 . Doré . Tokpanon . . 21 June 2021 . fr.
  14. Web site: Mamady Keïta . 2023-06-07 . SoundCloud . en.

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