UK’s most celebrated West African Kora player Seckou Keita releases new single
Today, 12th February 2021, celebrated Kora player Seckou Keita, is releasing Elles Sont Toutes Belles, ‘They Are All Beautiful’, - the first single in a series of pan African collaborations to be released throughout 2021.
In a career spanning 25 years, Seckou has become a household name with his unique style and ground-breaking collaborations with the likes of acclaimed classical Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, and Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa.
2020 was meant to be a year of live concerts with 100 booked all over the world, but Covid changed everything. It has been a few years since Seckou has released a single rather than an album, but with time off stage he was free to write new songs, connect and re-connect with musicians online.
The Kora track from Elles Sont Toutes Belles was written, performed and recorded by Seckou during the first lockdown in his home studio in Nottingham. The track was then sent to his friend, Afro-American hit producer known as Hakim, who then programmed the beats from Senegal, and in December 2020 Seckou travelled to Dakar to record the other musicians.
For this collaboration Seckou invited one of the most popular Senegalese singers, Aida Samb, to join him. Like Seckou, Aida Samb comes from a Griot family (traditional musicians) and started singing at an early age. Aida has been a backing singer with musicians including Youssou N’Dour, Baaba Maal or Pape Diouf. Her career rose when she won the Best Traditional Female African Artist category at the Kora awards in 2012. Since then, she has become one of the most in demand Senegalese singers of her generation.
The result of this collaboration is a warm, groovy and uplifting exploration of Senegalese pop music where Aida’s golden voice perfectly complements Seckou’s vocals.
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