Interview with Namory Keita

From https://namorydrum.com/

Sam: Hi Namory, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Would you mind telling what it means to you that your last name is Keita?

Namory: Having the last name Keita means that I am a descendent of the King of Manding. I do not allow this fact to define my whole life, but I am proud of it. I am happy knowing that my ancestors helped create the Manding culture and helped create this strong community between people. The helped create a great nation that still functions today.

S: How do you identify with the stories of famous Keita’s like Sunjata Keita and Salif Keita?

N: Sunjata was an emperor and he governed the whole empire. Salif was a singer and a musician. Salif was a messenger. He is sending a message to humanity. We have singers called griots. Salif is not a singer, he is a talker. He sings to make people happy but at the same time he is retelling history.

S: Do you relate to him in any way being a musician yourself?

N: I am happy being a musician. I can transmit what I know about Mali culture which is very deep. I consider myself Malian, but I was born and raised in Guinea and I cannot change that. Since then, being in American and Europe is such a blessing for me. I learned drumming in Guinea. I was a student and then I chose to be a drummer. It gave me an opportunity to travel. Otherwise I had no hope. I was studying to become a doctor, but if I had gone into medicine, I have no idea how I would have ended up. I quit school because I had an invitation to travel and that invitation doesn’t come often.

S: Did you experience any pressure to stay in school? Did your family not want you to be a musician?

N: Yes my mother was very upset.

S: Does that have anything to do with your legacy as a Keita?

N: No. My mom was the only one who paid for my school. My father couldn’t afford to. I am from a very poor family. Now, if I work, I can make $100 or $50 per day, but my father never had even $200 saved up. He couldn’t pay for my school but my mom could and when I quit school, my mom was very upset. I told my mom, ‘Please, don’t be upset. I’m going to be a musician and I’ll be able to pay you more. I want to travel.’ She eventually accepted my position and helped me a lot.

S: And you are happy with your decision to be a musician?

N: I enjoy being a musician. It’s sharing and I am a sharing person.

S: Okay, would you mind explaining to me what a griot is and what is their role in the community?

N: The griot is the history-teller. There are different kinds of griots. There are griots who tell the history of the entire Mading people. We also have a singer. Singing and storytelling are different. If a history-teller tells you something, it has been passed down to them by their ancestors. These are mostly from the Kouyate family. They are the ones who were chosen to tell the history of the Keita’s.

S: Okay. I have one last question for you. How does the story of Sunjata Keita affect you? What do you like about this story?

N: The thing I like most about the history is that Sunjata unified many different kingdoms. All the names were royal so he unified many different royal families. He unified them but gave them the freedom of expression. Sumanguru Kante took over after Sunjata’s dad, and no one could express themselves or speak out against him. He would punish them if they did. Sunjata gave them the freedom to express themselves in all aspects of life. Under Sumanguru there was no happiness. Sunjata wanted to created happiness and laughter between people. He built relationships between certain families. Keita and Kouyate are crossed. Traore and [unclear] cannot fight each other. For every group, there is another group you cannot marry into and there is another group who you must respect the authority of, even if you are angry. So each group goes another group and that’s a way to encourage laughter between people.

S: So you appreciate that he unified people and gave them the freedom to express themselves and share joy with one another.

N: Yes and we know which last name belongs to whom. If I say I am a Keita, everybody already knows what I represent.

S: Did Sunjata want that to be the case?

N: Yes he allowed people to keep their last name so they could identify each other and themselves.

S: Oh I see. Well, thank you for taking to the time to talk with me Namory. Take care.

N: Thank you. You too.