Mory Kanté

Early life

Kanté was born in Albadaria, French Guinea (a part of French West Africa at the time) on 29 March 1950. His father was El Hadj Djeli Fodé Kanté and his mother, Fatouma Kamissoko, was a singer. They were one of Guinea's best-known families of griot (hereditary) musicians. He was of mixed Malian and Guinean descent. The album it came from, Akwaba Beach, became the best-selling African record of its time. The album also featured an Islamic song, "Inch Allah", alongside the pop hit "Yé ké yé ké".

Kanté received unexpected fame again in 1994 when the German techno duo Hardfloor created a dance remix of "Yéké Yéké". He also appeared in 2006 as vocalist on British DJ Darren Tate's release, "Narama".

On 16 October 2001, Kanté was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He participated in that year's World Food Day ceremony at the FAO's headquarters in Rome, alongside fellow singers Majida El Roumi, Gilberto Gil and Albano Carrisi (who were also nominated as ambassadors).

Kanté was among Africa's top musicians—including Tiken Jah Fakoly, Amadou & Mariam and the rapper Didier Awadi—who banded together for the recording of "Africa Stop Ebola", a song offering advice aimed at raising awareness in the wake of the Ebola crisis. The song, released in November 2014, transcended public service announcements and sold 250,000 copies, with all proceeds going to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

Death

Kanté died on 22 May 2020 at a hospital in Conakry, aged 70. He had been suffering from chronic illnesses in the last years of his life and often received treatment in France. This ceased to be possible following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in that country.

Albums

Courougnegne (1981) N'Diarabi (1982) A Paris (1984) 10 Cola Nuts (1986) Akwaba Beach (1987) (#1 SUI; #13 GER; #43 SWE) Touma (1990) Nongo Village (1993) Tatebola (1996) Tamala – Le Voyageur (2001) Best Of (2002) Sabou (2004) La Guinéenne (2012)

Contributing artist

The Rough Guide to Acoustic Africa (2013, World Music Network) In 1980, Queen Asabia Cropper's brother Kenteman played bass guitar on Mory Kante's first original album N'diarabi, Courougnene and Bankiero recorded by Eboni Records Company in Cote D'ivoire.

Singles

"Yé ké yé ké" (1988) (#1 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Israel; #2 in Germany and Switzerland; #5 in France, #10 in Austria; #12 in Sweden; #29 in the UK) "Tama" (1988) (#44 in Germany) "Yéké Yéké" (remix) (1995) (#97 in Australia, #25 in the UK) "Yéké Yéké" (remix) (1996) (#28 in the UK)