EXPLOSIVE AND HIGHLY DANCEABLE AFROPOP FILLED WITH OPTIMISM

LIFE CELEBRATING AFROPOP AS ONLY SECKOU KEITA CAN DO.

Who would want to count how many times kora player and singer Seckou Keita has been at Folk Holidays, after all, he always comes with a different project. This time with the most numerous: the band Homeland, composed of top Senegalese musicians and singers. And with good reason: this year he celebrates thirty years on stage, during which time the boy from a respected griot family has become one of the world's most admired musicians, who continues to amaze with his art and discoveries. We alone remember him alongside Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, from the AKA Trio, and who could forget Harps over the Oslava river; that's probably impossible.
Although he has lived in Nottingham, UK, for almost thirty years, he regularly returns to his hometown of Ziguinchor in the Senegalese region of Casamanche. During Covid, trapped like everyone else in isolation, he began to think about his family, the landscape surrounding his home and the cultural environment in which he grew up. They recorded the song Homeland in Casamanche with star Senegalese singer Baaba Maal about it, and because Seckou Keita always likes to discover something and he was said to have many ideas running through his head that he wanted to share with the world, he surprisingly returned to the concept of home in 2024 on his very first Afropop album Homeland Chapter 1. On it, Seckou Keita, who sings in several languages, connected the kora with another Senegalese symbol: the intricately rhythmic mbalax style, invented in the 80s by singer Youssou N'Dour. For many years, guitarist Papa Omar Ngom played a key role in his band, who was later replaced by his son Moussou on keyboards, and since he and Keita have been friends since childhood, the choice of the album's producer was not difficult, as was the choice of who would become the central figure of the band Homeland.
Seckou Keita's explosive and highly danceable Afro-pop includes many references to Senegalese musical traditions and reflections on what home means today. But above all, it is an optimistic celebration of life.

Photos by: Pape Photoma