Salif Keita - Vogue Theatre- April 2, 2011

Salif Keita has such a unique and powerful voice. I believe he is called The Golden Voice of Africa, and I can see why! To be honest, I'd only ever heard three of his songs but  my friend, Agatha, loves his music and she celebrated her birthday a few days before the concert so she asked me to go with her. Anyway, I decided , why not?  Since when have I not enjoyed an African concert? Just the sound of the drums is enough to get me dancing!

Also, I admire Salif's fight against discrimination of albinos in his native, Mali. He actually has a foundation that brings to the public the awful atrocities that albinos experience, especially in Africa. I applaud him for that. I've heard the horror stories of how badly albinos are treated; it's a crying shame.

I wasn't expecting there to be an opening act but we were treated to a surprisingly good performance by a local band called Kutapira. They played Zimbabwean and Cuban-inspired music. The Zimbabwean music reminded me a lot of home. I can honestly say I would love to see them perform again! They are so young, yet so talented!

 

Agatha and I during intermission.

When Salif sings, you can't help but hold your breath as you listen. His voice is just magical and powerful.

I even got him to sign my cd at the end of the show! I was so excited to speak to him in French, even more excited that he understood my accented French! Silly me, I forgot to change my setting back to normal before giving the camera to Agatha. Anyway, here is my low-quality photo documentation!

Merci, Salif!