ALY KEЇTA
BIO
The swirling balafon playing of Aly Keïta – the winner of the German Jazz Prize 2022 – is spectacular. The mallets in his hands seem to dance across the sound bars. The West African musician gained worldwide recognition for his mastery of the balafon, which he has been playing since childhood, and has now made it to the side of the best: Omar Sosa, Joe Zawinul, Rhoda Scott, Paco Séry, Pharoah Sanders, Paolo Fresu, L. Subramaniam, Trilok Gurtu & Jan Garbarek, to name just a few. Today Aly Keïta lives in Berlin, where he met the Holland drummer Marcel van Cleef, the Italian bassist Roberto Badoglio and the German saxophonist Viktor Wolf. In their music they wander between spectacular African rhythms, polyphony and elements of jazz and combine them to create a wonderful and unique sound.
Awards:
2022 – German Jazz Prize in the category “Special Instruments”
2009 – World music prize Creole (Germany)
