Customer Reviews

Soro

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first time I heard the music of Salif Keita was in Senegal in 1993. I found SORO on tape in a market in Dakar. I fell in love with his music the first time I listened to him. There is something almost spiritual that moved me when I heard his voice. When I saw him in concert in Washington, DC in 1994, I was not disappointed. His concerts are definitely an experience. I took a couple of friends with me and they were truly impressed with his performance.

Soro turned into a great hit for Salif Keita in the late 1980s and was the album that established him on the international scene. Keita's music is a successful blend of the traditional griot style with influences from Latin America and other West African pop styles. The female backup singers play a prominent role in the arrangements, at least equal to Keita's own searing vocals.

The music is a happy mix of percussion, bass, guitar, congas, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and keyboards. Soro (Afriki) is a long piece in three parts with different percussive tempos and instrumental breaks. Souareba is a particularly moving song with a spiritual undertone, orchestral arrangement and soaring vocals.

Sina (Soumbouya) is a more traditional piece with a bubbling rhythm, flashes of trumpet and the intricate vocal interplay. With its slower pace and gently lilting rhythm, Cono is a soulful ballad with a lovely melody, whilst the mournful Sanni Kegniba is more traditional with intense soaring vocals.

Soro from 1987 is considered his masterpiece but I like Keita's albums Amen and The Mansah Of Mali even more for their greater variety. This however remains a classic of African crossover music.

Complex, rythmic, melodic, and wonderfully unique. I still get shivers everytime "Cono" (sample track 5) plays.

Soro turned into a great hit for Salif Keita in the late 1980s and was the album that established him on the international scene. Keita's music is a successful blend of the traditional griot style with influences from Latin America and other West African pop styles. The female backup singers play a prominent role in the arrangements, at least equal to Keita's own searing vocals.

The music is a happy mix of percussion, bass, guitar, congas, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and keyboards. Soro (Afriki) is a long piece in three parts with different percussive tempos and instrumental breaks. Souareba is a particularly moving song with a spiritual undertone, orchestral arrangement and soaring vocals.

Sina (Soumbouya) is a more traditional piece with a bubbling rhythm, flashes of trumpet and the intricate vocal interplay. With its slower pace and gently lilting rhythm, Cono is a soulful ballad with a lovely melody, whilst the mournful Sanni Kegniba is more traditional with intense soaring vocals.

Soro from 1987 is considered his masterpiece but I like Keita's albums Amen and The Mansah Of Mali even more for their greater variety. This however remains a classic of African crossover music.

This landmark album, recorded in Paris and released worldwide in 1987, took Salif Keita from local popularity in Mali, Senegal and the "ethnic West African Music scene" in France, to world recognition. It's therefore fair to say that "Soro" was the first time that music from West Africa gained a true international audience.

"Soro" is rooted in "griot" blended with playing from American-influenced, Paris-based jazz musicians. Influences from Latin America may also be detected. This was the first time Keita used a small chorus of female backing singers to anchor the melody and act as a counterpoint to his own soaring vocals, later to become one of the trademarks of his sound as it developed into maturity. Complex percussion lines and beautiful, crisp bass playing overlaid with superlative brass create a melodic, soulful sound.

Keita's voice is in its prime, with the exuberant confidence of youth married to the disciplined and controlled delivery of an experienced professional artist. Production values are first class, and even after 20 years the sound is beautiful, rich and deep, as fresh as the day it was recorded.

The accompanying booklet (CD only, not the MP3 download) offers all the song lyrics translated into English - useful, as Salif does not sing in English but mainly in West African languages and occasionally in French.

There is no song like this one in any worl