Best of The Beat on Afropop: Salif Keita and the Coup d'Etat

<p><a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/migrated-uploads/2017/03/Beat105p39.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-35595" src="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/migrated-uploads/2017/03/Beat105p39-791x1024.jpg" alt="Beat10#5p39" height="829" width="640"></a>As we eagerly await Salif Keita’s appearance in New York <a href="http://www.worldmusicinstitute.org/event/638b52be395db11eda3bb5afe538ca8b" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">this week</a> (his last appearance here was 2014), and <a href="http://www.bandsintown.com/SalifKeita" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in other locations accessible to our readers around the U.S.</a>, here is a “Best of The Beat” cover feature on “Mali’s Musical Monarch” from 1991. Our correspondent, Brooke Wentz, found herself in Bamako in the midst of the violent political <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/27/world/mali-s-dictator-is-overthrown-in-coup.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">coup d’etat that felled President Moussa Traore after 23 years in power.</a></p> <p><a href="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/migrated-uploads/2017/03/Beat105SalifP41.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-35598" src="https://afropop.test.ejaedesign.com/migrated-uploads/2017/03/Beat105SalifP41-1024x786.jpg" alt="Beat10#5SalifP41" height="491" width="640"></a>Brooke sent us a first-hand report on her chance encounter with Salif in Bamako, the political uprising, and chaos in the streets. Salif, as a local hero, became her protector, and she ultimately escaped Bamako with him as they fled to his family’s home village of Djoliba for safety.</p> <div class="video-container"><iframe loading="lazy" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1gE4gh2caEE" allowfullscreen="" height="281" frameborder="0" width="500"></iframe>