Fodéba Keïta was a Guinean dancer, guitarist, poet and bandleader who did more than almost any single performer to bring West African folkloric dance and music to a world stage: the Paris ensemble he founded in the late 1940s grew into Les Ballets Africains, later Guinea's national dance company. Born into a griot family in Siguiri, he set traditional Mandé and Soussou songs and stories to modern arrangements for guitar, drums and ensemble voice, then turned to politics after Guinean independence — serving as a government minister under Sékou Touré until his 1969 arrest and death in the Camp Boiro prison he had helped build.

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MinuitFodéba Keïta