SALIF KEITA, host of African Rhythms, Thursdays, 1-3 pm

Interviewed by Kirsten Burns and Todd Schwartzberg, February 27, 2003

Salif Keita was born and raised in Mali, West Africa and moved to the Twin Cities in 1996. He met his wife in the Minneapolis area during a Salsa dancing music camp. He was introduced to the Minneapolis area through a friend who works for the International Mining Company.

His introduction to KFAI was due to a man named Eric Bailey who used to "do the African Show." Bailey asked Salif to come on his show to speak about music from Mali. While he was there as a guest, Mr. Bailey told him, "Salif I’m leaving, you’ve got the show." Salif has been doing the "African Rhythms" show on KFAI ever since, and consequently went through a training program provided by KFAI. He is currently doing the show with Rhoda Ohito from Kenya and Dr. Charlie Sudwick an English professor at the University of Minnesota. Salif’s interest in music is broad and he likes, "anything that is good." "I come from a part of West Africa which has tons of music." Even though he himself is not a musician he draws on many of his experiences around African musicians both in Africa, abroad and in the Twin Cities. Since coming to Minneapolis and working at the radio station, his interest in African music has expanded even more.

The music chosen for the show is decided by the DJs themselves and dictated by what is requested by the listeners. Salif states, "We just play what is from the bottom of our hearts; good music." Mostly the DJs bring their own music to play on the radio show. A lot of the music played on the radio station is not recorded here in the United States, but in Paris or London. Salif described the city of Paris as, "the rendezvous of African music." This radio show plays music by African artists whose music was produced in places such as Paris or London, but also plays local African artist’s music. In addition, the radio show acts as an avenue for many local musicians to advertise their concerts and events.

The listening audience for the radio show is very diverse. The listeners often dictate what music, Salif, Rhoda and Charlie play. "Our listeners call in and recommend what we should play… Sometimes we get calls from Iceland, we get calls from Morocco, it’s for everybody." Salif discussed the wide variety of listeners to include native Minnesotans, African immigrants and many other ethnic groups. "It is not only Africans who like African music." Salif believes that "People are so interested in African music right now" and that this may be due to, "the intrigue of the instruments and the sound that each instrument makes." Salif himself attributes his evergrowing interest in African music to the fact that he has immigrated to Minneapolis and that he has this radio show. Because of the diversity in listeners, the "African Rhtyhms" is always expanding its horizons to include music of interest to people from all different backgrounds and experiences.