Mory Kanté

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Mory Kanté at the Guinea J Awards 2019

Mory Kanté [ mɔˈʀi kɑ̃ˈte ] (born March 29, 1950 in Albadania near Kissidougou ; † May 22, 2020 in Conakry ) was a Guinean griot musician.

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Akwaba Beach
  DE 13 06/27/1988 (13 weeks)
  CH 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 
gold
gold
06/12/1988 (17 weeks)
Singles
Yé ké yé ké
  DE 2 06/06/1988 (19 weeks)
  AT 10 08/01/1988 (16 weeks)
  CH 2 06/26/1988 (16 weeks)
  UK 29 07/23/1988 (9 weeks)
  FR 5 
silver
silver
03/12/1988 (23 weeks)
Tama
  DE 44 09/12/1988 (6 weeks)
Yeke Yeke 1995
  UK 25th 03/11/1995 (5 weeks)
Yeke Yeke - '96 remixes
  UK 28 11/30/1996 (2 weeks)

Life

Mory Kanté was trained as a child at a French school and first learned to play the balafon , which enjoys symbolic significance in his family. At the age of 15 he was sent to his aunt in Bamako to live there and to be able to perform the initiation rite for a griot singer. When he returned to his hometown, he was influenced by various musical styles: chachacha , mambo , rumba , soul , pop music , yéyé and funk . Mory Kanté also discovered an interest in guitar playing at the same time .

At the age of 21 he was discovered by Tidiane Kone , the saxophonist and band leader of the Rail Band , and joined the band as a guitarist and balafonist. Two years later (1973) he became the group's lead singer. He discovered the musical instrument kora , which he learned to play himself, and went on a tour of West Africa with the band. In 1976 he was awarded the Voix d'Or (in German: "Golden Voice") award from Nigeria as a singer . The following year he wanted to delve into the griot tradition again.

Mory Kanté left the band at the age of 28 (1978) and moved to Abidjan . He played with a small ensemble at Climbier , a renowned club in Abidjan. The head of the American label Ebony Records discovered him and produced the first album Courougnene in 1981 . This album brought Mory Kanté again a lot of attention in Africa.

In 1984 Mory Kanté traveled to France and settled in Paris without a residence permit. He celebrated his first successes with performances in Paris. In 1985 he was able to contribute a composition for the French film Black Mic-Mac . In 1986 he signed a record deal with Barclay Records for the album 10 Kola Nuts , which was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique . The song Yé ké yé ké , which was already on the album À Paris , was re-recorded and released on the 1987 album Akwaba Beach . With this version he achieved the worldwide breakthrough. In 1990 he made an appearance in New York's Central Park on the memorial day of the storming of the Bastille as a French representative. The album Touma ( German  "The Moment" ) achieved gold status in France .

Kanté made many appearances from the 1990s onwards. Which has since appeared plates Nongo Village (1994), Tatebola (1996), Tamala - Le Voyageur (2001) Best Of (2002) and the acoustic and strong griotbeeinflusste album Sabou (2004) were all not in the success of more Akwaba Beach tie .

Mory Kanté died in May 2020 after a long illness at the age of 70 in the Guinean capital Conakry.

successes

Mory Kanté landed in the summer of 1988 at the height of ethno-pop with the single Yé ké yé ké (also Yeke yeke ) a Europe-wide hit. In Germany and Switzerland it rose to number 2 in the single charts. The previously released album Akwaba Beach rose to number 1 in Switzerland on July 17, 1988.

In 1994 the German techno duo Hardfloor released a remix of Yeke yeke . The remix can be heard on the soundtrack of the film The Beach . Another techno remix is Yeke Yeke 2008 by Picco.

Discography

  • Courougnene (1981, Ivory Coast )
  • N'Diarabi (1982)
  • A Paris (1984)
  • 10 Kola Nuts (1986)
  • Akwaba Beach (1987, FR:goldgold)
  • Touma (1990)
  • Nongo Village (1994)
  • Tatebola (1996)
  • Tamala - Le Voyageur (2001)
  • Best Of (2002)
  • Sabou (2004)
  • La Guinéenne (2012)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK FR
  2. ↑ Awards for music sales: CH FR
  3. ↑ a b c d e f biography on personal homepage ( Memento from January 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ African music legend Mory Kante dies - derStandard.de. Retrieved on May 22, 2020 (Austrian German).
  5. ↑ Akwaba Beach and single releases in the Swiss hit parade
personal data
SURNAME Kanté, Mory
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Guinean musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 29, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Albadania , Guinea
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 2020
Place of death Conakry