This is my recommendation and, firstly, let me apologise that this album is a bit difficult to find. I didn't realise that when I submitted it and I suspect his low profile may have something to do with why Salif Keita, the 'Golden Voice of Africa'., was overlooked on the original list. In fact, the whole of West Africa had fewer albums on the list than Elvis Costello. If you're unfamiliar with this album, what I hope you'll hear is both the region's distinctive sound and instrumentation, combined with a fusion of Western influences that makes this music accessible. The opening track features a duet with the fabulous Cape Verde singer Cesaria Evora. It's a love song in four different languages so I think it's fair to say the listener isn't supposed to understand all the lyrics. I specifically chose Salif Keita because he was my gateway into this sound. The traditional influences are stronger in his music than other regional artists, right down to the distant hint of the Blues on some tracks. I hope you like it.
Moffou
Salif Keita
2002
Album Summary
This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Moffou is the tenth studio album by Malian singer Salif Keita. It was recorded during July and August 2001 at Les Studios De La Seine in Paris, France. Moffou was released in 2002 by Universal Jazz France. The song "Yamore" features the Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora. Musical instruments that are commonly featured in Keita's work include balafons, djembes, guitars, koras, organs, saxophones, and synthesizers. He performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert in 1988 to call for Nelson Mandela's release from prison. In 1990, Keita contributed "Begin the Beguine" to the Cole Porter tribute/AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Blue, produced by the Red Hot Organization. As a descendant of Mali Empire ancestors he was born Albino. He immediately stood out from others as his condition was considered an illness in his native land of Mali and Mandinka people. Keïta has always struggled with this because even though he was a part of a family tree of musicians and a warrior princess he wasn’t allowed to play any music and was disowned by his father and kicked out of school. So he moved to Ivory Coast as a young man hoping to be appreciated. No matter his skin color he focused on music where ever he went and led him to be a Cultural icon. In 1997 he returned to Mali after his fame helped him.
Reviews
Like a review? Give it a thumb up to help us display relevant reviews!I *think* this technically violates the rules of the user-submitted list because it is impossible to find on spotify and also impossible to find in a single easy to find playlist on Youtube.com. But I'm not complaining because this entire thing is wonderful. West African Jazz is my absolute shit. Go off Salif
Holy shit 5
Really nice album! I enjoyed it. I may not know this kind of music, but i know what I like. I liked this a lot!
Yes! This is the kinda stuff I was hoping to see. Music from people and places I've never heard of. I'm not going to actively seek out Malian music. It's a really interesting album and sound. Of course my regular complaints of being too long still stand here, some songs go on too long, but at least it's different. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes. These are the kind of albums I'd love to have heard more of.
Yes, west African jazz, the list could be improved so much with more diversity like this. Beautiful music.
This is really good and it's now on Spotify!! Not that i'm an expert in World music but it's very professional, well produced and enjoyable to listen to. What more could you ask for? Superb.
Great Salif Keita album. Lots of fantastic rhythms and a pleasure for my ears and hips.
This is the kind of stuff I was expecting to get more of from the original list. Thank you for recommending this!
Appears I'm lucky that this album is on my preferred streaming platform. Thanks Tidal. Has a good pulse to it, but I'll admit the slower songs lost me, mostly due to the language barrier. Still enjoyed though. Favorite tracks: "Yamore", "Madan"
The first album on this user-generated list already surpasses almost anything that was classed World Music in the original 1001 list. Organic, deeply rooted sound that isn’t filtered through Western pop sensibilities. Superb start.
Couldn't find the full album readily, leaving me with an album of remixes and questionable YouTube playlists, so maybe I just got the flavor here. Kind of a broken record on the Afropop, I like it but of course can't understand any of it, so it kind of drifts into the background.
Nice slice of fun
June 30 2025 HL: “Yamore”, “Moussolou”, “Koukou” Sweet I don’t know why the day/night cycle affects my music taste, but I really think hearing it at dusk-twilight enhanced Moffou.
Other reviews mention this not being on Spotify, but I personally found it in one search, so I think it's just a region-locking issue? This is awesome. Very interesting backstory as well. More African albums are always appreciated.
Loses a star for having Martin Solveig turn up, but otherwise flawless
"Yamore" and "Madan" are two absolute bangers casting a long shadow over the rest of this album -- the first sweet and delicate, the second sweaty and lively like a wild night out in Bamako or Abidjan. Nothing as striking after that, but there are still plenty of evocative moments in cuts such as "Mousolou", "Koukou" and "Here". 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 14 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 26 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 44 ---- Émile ! J'ai répondu à ton message. Regarde six reviews au dessus !
I listened to a version of this that had remixes that followed all the original songs. It was a bit distracting, since it made it harder to evaluate the album, but I was struck by how well all these songs transformed into modern dance music. Her voice is beautiful, and it's a great recording as well. I have no idea what she's saying, but the emotion comes through so well. I don't even know how I would describe this, but it fucking works. Upon looking at Wikipedia, it turns out this is a Malian singer. That figures. Some of the best guitar music in the work has been coming out of Africa, and I've liked basically everything I've heard on this list that involves African guitarists 4/5
Respect this submission for broadening my musical knowledge and exposing me to something way way off the beaten track. Great musicianship, and it's full of passion. It's not something I'll be a regular listener of, but a doff my cap to it.
Beautiful elements of French jazz
Well, this sure is Malian music. It's pretty good too.
It’s too bad that this is largely unavailable as what I heard of it was quite good.
Hard to rate this one as I couldn't find it anywhere. I have Youtube Music and Amazon Music Unlimited. I did find a video on Youtube with samples from all the songs, but not the actual album itself. It sounds like it would be rather peaceful. Hard to rate, so I'll go 3/5.
Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Yamore, Madan
I listened to some of his other albums and one or two tracks from this album off YouTube and some of the remix album and I think I would probably really like this. But I’ll never know unless I buy the cd. Shame. I will average knowns and unknowns into a 3
Why is this not on Spotify?
Liked it. No more, no less
Couldn't say I'd listen to this every day, but I enjoyed it as a once off. Like a mix of Latin guitar and African traditional music? It kinda lost steam in places, some of the tracks were too quiet for me, but I liked the ones where it sounded like a whole village was doing backup singing. 3/5.
Pleasant Afro folk
Enjoyed an international detour for a bit, and the strong sense of melody in the instrumentals was much appreciated. This was a rich (but not fatty) LP, Keita’s warm, dominant vocals sitting perfectly atop the well-mixed melodies. Did get a bit homogeneous near the end, but overall a great listen and another much-needed international addition to the original 1001.
I enjoyed it. 3 stars.
Has a great soulful vibe and passion that is instantly appealing. I was a bit challenged by it in places where it become lyrically heavy and the music gets pushed to the background and all i'm hearing is a passionate guy loudly since in a language i can't follow. When it flows with the music, its easy to bob your head and follow the vibe, but i was thrown out of it a little bit when Salif really had something to say. Definitely an interesting listen and great to be exposed to music from around the world.
Upbeat. Good tempo. Glad it was recommended.
Out of the average. Good album. I appreciate this kind of suggestion because I would never look into this guy’s music just by myself
I didn’t really get anything out of this but it was only 16 minutes so there’s not much for me to even say or have a feeling about.
The Mali music scene seems cool. Rating: 3.5 Playlist track: Madan Date listened: 05/12/24
Cool
Not bad.
I enjoyed it not my usual thing but it had passion and soul, and that goes a long way!
A pleasant listen 🍃
Couldn't listen to this one except for a few remixes which were great but I can't properly assess.
A pretty cool and varied Malian jazz album. There are a lot of Western influences on here, particularly Spanish guitar music, combined with the grooves and timbres that you only really find in West African jazz, that results in an interesting vibe and sound of the whole record. The opening track was incredible and gorgeous, and I really thought this could be a 5, but I didn’t really click with anything else anywhere near as much
Enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than I thought I would
Most of this wasn't available. The little that I did here was pretty engaging with a talented vocalist and enjoyable music.
Yea this is cool but its so outside my regular musical palette that I have no idea what to do with it or what to rate it.
Well, this album seemed to me to be very ethnic, and since it is so long for an album of this type, I found it very tedious to listen to. I suppose that for its origin it is fine, and trying to be objective, it seemed to me to be an average album, I am unable to understand it beyond my lack of knowledge.
Not my thing, but giving it 2 stars doesn't seem right either. I recognize that this is very well done, but it just doesn't appeal to me. Oh well...
Ekki fyrir mig
I'll echo what others have said, that I was unable to find the full original album and that it seems much of what I could find was in remixes. What I did hear of Keita sounded very nice, but this is a 2 for lack of an album.
World music. No me va. Un 2.
Dawg. If you want Mande music... https://rateyourmusic.com/collection/Zhanteimi/stag/mande+music/
This is really not my kind of music and I feel disappointed in myself for that.
It's OK, good in places but not really for me
That remix at the end of the album was fire but I’m not sure I gelled with the rest of it.
Unable to access. 2s. Im sure its better if i could hear it.
I wasn’t able to find this album so I tried several other songs by this artist and I came to the same realization. I plant have mattered if I listened to this album because I wouldn’t have understood it. The beats and rhythms clearly match the African artist and I’m sure they’re good. Don’t have much knowledge to compare them. Overall this wasn’t for me. 2.4/10
Not feeling it
Another genre added to my small list of genres to never listen to again!