Salif Keita said ‘no’ for many years to recording an album as spare and stripped-back as So Kono, released on the boutique Parisian label Nø Førmat! this April. “I’m not a guitarist. People would be bored to death!” quipped the ‘Golden Voice of Africa’ in response to any overtures to arrange an album for just him and his acoustic guitar. Luckily for us, the 75-year-old was persuaded and the hauntingly beautiful nine songs collected on So Kono are as arresting as anything he has recorded.

Born in Mali in 1949, Keita is a descendant of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the 13th-century Mali Empire. His decision to pursue music broke with convention, as his noble birth meant he would traditionally be the subject, not the singer, of Mali’s royal court music.

Making his name with the storied Rail Band of Bamako — alongside Mory Kanté and Djelimady Tounkara — and later the equally fabled Les Ambassadeurs, Keita’s first solo album Soro was an era-defining work of African futurism, ahead of its time in its use of synths and overdubs.

So Kono, then, is a full-circle moment. It sees Salif singing and playing guitar, accompanied only by Badie Tounkara on djeli n’goni and Mamadou Koné on calabash, recorded live for the most part in a hotel room in Kyoto.

Opening with just Salif and his six strings, “Aboubarkin” shows that Keita’s self-effacement was unfounded: his cyclical, finger-picked guitar provides all the musical space needed for his celebrated vibrato to soar.

Joined by Tounkara and Koné on “Awa”, Salif’s six strings entwine with the four strings of the djeli n’goni — the small, boat-shaped lute — and, with only a little reverb added, it sounds as stately and epic as the tale of Keita’s royal ancestor.

On the elegiac “Kante Manfila”, Keita pays homage to the late Guinean guitarist of the same name, while on “Tu Vas Me Manquer” (“You are going to miss me”), his guitar positively dances. And although the trio tracks are excellent, it’s these moments of intimacy that shine brightest.

That said, the album concludes powerfully with the overlapping strings of “Proud”, delivered in a spoken praise style. Keita sings in three languages: “I am an albino, and I am proud. I am different, and I am proud.”

Stream, listen to, and get your copy of So Kono, the latest album by Salif Keita
released on 11 April via Nø Førmat! — available now HERE