Cheick-Tidiane is a keyboardist, composer, performer, and performer popular and traditional Malian music. He is perhaps the most experienced and well-known, but also the least-appreciated, of all the popular and traditional musicians in the Manding-speaking area of West Africa. His rich and varied musical history is filled with memorable encounters with artists such as Salif Keita and Mory Kante, Felakuti, Youssou N’Dour and Hank Jones. Seck is a musician who can be described as a keyboardist, composer and bandleader, singer, arranger and modern musician. He also demonstrates the complex nature of West African musicians, which often involves the mixing of different cultures and regions. Seck grew up in Manding and learned the traditions. However, like many West African musicians, Seck turned to Western pop music as a source of inspiration. Seck was a member of the highly successful Rail Band du Buffet Hotel de la Gare, Bamako, Mali in the 1970s. He was joined by Salif Keita and Mory Kante. Seck continued playing with Keita in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. He was part of the legendary Les Ambassadeurs and also worked on numerous solo projects, including the highly successful and influential album “Soro.” Seck’s continued activity in the 1980s and 1990s has been evident in his worldwide recording and touring as well as his collaborations with Hank Jones in 1995’s “Sarala”. Seck was invited by the University of California, Los Angeles to teach “African Music meets Jazz” from January 2000 to March 2000. Fifty years. To finally hear his name called, it took fifty years. Yet, Cheick Amadou Tidiane Seeck was not born after the last drop of CD. Segou’s native engraved more than one song since he first entered the music industry. It was in the Seventies, when he was still teaching in Bamako plastic arts. “All the afro-American music and world popular music interested me: Louis Armstrong, James Brown and Marvin Gaye… I used to direct a group called the Afro Blues Band when I was younger. It was the golden age for great orchestras and the one that was rocked from his childhood by the Mandingo tradition his mother sang to him. The Super Rail Band will be joined by Salif Keita and Mory Kante. His unique fingering is electric and eclectic, and was influenced by Jimmy Smith’s jazz funk touch. “One of my inspirations. To get rid of his style and create my own, it took me five years. It is the key that will make him different. He has been wearing it since the Seventies, when he was exiled in Ivory Coast by the military junta. This was a time of political trouble for the man who was twice imprisoned. The marker’s label of Cheick Amadou Tidiane Seck is found everywhere the past twenty-five years have been carried. It was created by the Ambassadeurs, MoryKante, Thione Seck and Toure Kunda. Yet, even though he is well-known by his pars for his type-setter and arranger skills, he is still unknown to the general public. To see his personality, he will need to wait for Hank Jones, the jazz pianist. “This old man held me in his hand. This was not “nothing”, an elder trusted me and gave me a huge task. He didn’t hesitate to give me credit for my work. It was the “Sarala”, a meeting between jazz traditions and Mandingo traditions, for which Cheick Tidiane Seck had the musicians recruited and where he will sign the most complex arrangements. This disc has been a timeless classic. It had been almost ten years since the release of the continuation. He was active, continuing to perform his music, leaving UCLA for three months to teach “Meeting between western African music and jazz” in California. It is difficult to sum up a career that has taken many different paths but never lost its core values and visions. Let’s now return to what we have waited so long for: an album that began in 1999 and ended in 2003. It was recorded between Paris and Los Angeles. The “Mandingroove” good name. The title “Mandingroove” has a double meaning, body and heart, to paraphrase Ellington. Ellington points out that it is important to dance the feet while also taking care to nourish the head. That is to say, all that vibrates and lives within me. This disc is the foundation of my entire musical life. Even though many of my friends aren’t there, it is why there are so many people. This speaks to my ability to blend into the variety of musical currents I have crossed. There’s a part that is traditional and another that is creative. There is always the desire for both traditional and contemporary music. I attempt to synthesize all the sounds I hear, from Eastern rhythms to electronic rhythms. I’m like a tape recorder that records all the sounds: melody, rhythm, harmony… You just need to pick up your ears to appreciate this universal gift. Strongly implanted music but naturally open to all winds that ooze the urbanity, but still remember the deep furrows in the country. His identity is reflected in his thematic, rich in colors but balanced with universal values. Music of reconciliation, festivals, and anger that does not forget to convey a message even in difficult times. CATS is an acronym that marvellously suits this cat-like, who treasures and sheds tears. It has many things to share, within the lines of a rich universe at the crossroads of many worlds. Of course, it’s eclectic. Weird, misunderstanding. This is the subject of this album. It’s bulky and far away from the motorways. It features a mix of women voices and engaging words. This density is only an echo of the complexity of our current world, which is reflected in each of us. Each title is an integral part of this puzzle. Bright and bursty, this Toucouleur was born in Segou. He was raised in the spirit of decolonization and grew up on the planet music. A society man, all things considered. From www.malimusic.com
