Keita Breaks Language Barrier

By the time he finished his second number at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater on Saturday, Salif Keita knew that something wasn’t working quite right. Looking out thoughtfully at his capacity audience, aware that they were not grasping his lyrics, the Malian singer paused for a moment, then made a small gesture with his hands as he quietly whispered into the microphone: “Please. Get up.”

It was all the crowd needed. And despite initial efforts by the ushers to clear the aisles, it was the last time anyone spent much time in a seat. Instantly, the room was transformed from a traditional concert setting into a gathering of share-the-sounds musical togetherness.

Keita, content that he had established the open, physically receptive environment that is essential to his music, dug into a virtually nonstop collection of rhythmically energized songs. The result was a magical evening of music, and a pointed illustration of the compelling, imaginative sounds that are being created beyond the shores of this country.

What Keita has done is to bring jazz and R&B; full circle. Influenced early in his career by Cuban big bands and Latin jazz, he has taken swing, improvisation and call-and-response structuring--elements originally rooted in African sources--and filtered them once again through the vibrant sounds of contemporary African pop.

In number after number--the spirited, anthemic “Africa” was a prime example--Keita played the role of upfront, improvising soloist, spitting out rapid-fire lyrics, backed by a surging rhythm section and two riffing singers.

There were moments, in fact, when the entire package, with two drummers, two singers, keyboards, bass and the superb Ousmane Kouyate on guitar, was a kind of ‘90s, world-music translation of Charlie Parker or Ray Charles jamming in front of a hard-driving big band. And when Keita shifted to a quiet, introspective number such as “Folon,” it was delivered with the dark, layered subtlety of a Billie Holiday ballad.

That Keita’s words were indecipherable to probably 99% of his listeners mattered not at all. Keita is after emotional communication, and for the assemblage of dancing, grooving fans, many of whom joined Keita onstage for a collective number, he accomplished precisely that.