African Soul Rebels
Salif Keita, Tony Allen and Awadi are part of the 2008 edition of the African Soul Rebels tour starting on 15 February.
One has fought prejudice all his life, one stood up to be counted when a corrupt government tried to run roughshod over its citizens, one is bringing traditional sounds to modern music. Together they promise one of the most exciting shows this year.
After three series of acclaimed concerts, the African Soul Rebels tour has raised its game further for 2008, uniting two legends and a younger groundbreaker for 10 nights across the UK, from 15 February to 25 February 2008. A West African spectacular, the tour features Mali’s Salif Keita , perhaps the finest singer the continent has ever produced, Tony Allen , the man who put the beat in Nigeria’s Afrobeat, and Awadi , a hero of Senegal’s fertile rap scene.
A soul rebel to the core, Salif Keita’s life has been one of confounding expectations. Because of his noble surname, he should never have been a singer. As an albino he was considered an outcast from the day he was born. Now, more than 40 years after he became a musician, Keita can look back on decades of unparalleled international success: his 19977 album 'Soro' has been labelled the best African LP of all time; both the albums he has recorded since returning to Mali in 2000, 'Moffou' and 'M’Bemba', have been called classics. For this tour, he is going further back in time, to the acoustic sound he grew up hearing while working in his father’s fields.
It’s not for nothing that countless fellow musicians have called him the greatest drummer of all time. A master of jazz and traditional African drumming styles, Tony Allen was the heartbeat behind Fela Kuti in the 1970s, playing on albums such as 'Zombie', 'Sorrow Tears And Blood' and 'Gentlemen'. After leaving Kuti, he followed his own instincts, bringing dub and hip-hop to Afrobeat, and his most recent project, 'The Good, The Bad and The Queen' (recorded with Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong) won Best Album at the Mojo Awards in 2007.
One of the founding members of West African rap pioneers Positive Black Soul, Didier Awadi, has spent two decades mixing contemporary American soul with traditional Senegalese music. In January 2008, he released a new album, 'Presidents D’Afrique', based on speeches by African leaders, which tackles questions of heritage, independence and debt. “What I’m trying to do”, he says, “is use hip-hop as an entertaining way to get Africans to re-appropriate their history and give these presidents their rightful place in our pantheon.”
The African Soul Rebels 2008 tourdates:
Friday, 15 February: Brighton Dome (01273 709 709)
Saturday, 16 February: Colston Hall, Bristol (0117 922 3686)
Sunday, 17 February: Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (024 7652 4524)
Monday, 18 February: Barbican, London (020 7638 8891)
Thursday, 21 February: Lighthouse, Poole (08700 668701)
Friday, 22 February, The Anvil, Basingstoke (01256 844 244)
Saturday, 23 February: De Montfort Hall, Leicester (0116 233 3111)
Sunday, 24 February: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (0151 709 3789)
Monday, 25 February: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (0161 907 9000)
Tuesday, 26 February: The Sage, Gateshead (0191 443 4661)