A low-key funeral punctuated by Mandingo songs has been held in the Guinean capital Conakry to pay final tribute to the legendary musician Mory Kante, who died last Friday of chronic illness at the age of 70.
“He was a genius, a god on earth, a gift from God…a soldier and multidimensional artist.”
It is in these terms that the traditional poets of the brotherhood of the well-known artiste competed in virtuosity and eloquence to pray for and say goodbye to the “electric griot” who has pushed Guinean culture around the world, thanks to his kora and balafon rhythm.
To comply with the measures imposed by the authorities as part of the fight against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, 200 people attended the funeral of the musician of “Yéké Yéké” fame who took the music world by storm in 1987.
Several women fell into a trance as the coffin of the native of Alberada (Guinea) draped in national colors was lying in state under the ceremonial tent within the walls of the Sino-Guinean hospital in Kipé (suburb of Conakry), AFP correspondents reported.
Because of the closure of all borders, only two of the 14 children of the deceased musician were able to attend the ceremony.
“They are all stranded in Paris, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, and even the United States because of the pandemic…they were unable to come. It is sad and too bad they could not see our father’s body,” Kader Yomba, one of his two sons told reporters.
Guinean Minister of Culture and Historical Heritage, Sanoussi Bantama Sow, who led the official delegation, promised ceremonies befitting the importance of the legendary artiste, at the end of the pandemic, to pay a final posthumous tribute to him.
ARD/cgd/fss/as/APA