Nkonkonsa Celebrity Gossip From Africa
African singer Mory Kante has died aged 70 in Guinea.
He died in hospital on Friday May 22, 2020 in the Guinea capital, Conakry, and the sad news was confirmed his son Balla Kanté.
Balla told the AFP news agency his father died from health problems which had been left untreated due to the coronavirus outbreak.
He said: “He suffered from chronic illnesses and often travelled to France for treatment but that was no longer possible with the coronavirus. We saw his condition deteriorate rapidly, but I was still surprised because he’d been through much worse times before”.
Mory Kanté born on 29 March 1950 was a Guinean vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was best known internationally for his 1987 hit song “Yé ké yé ké”, which reached number-one in Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, and Spain. The album it came from, Akwaba Beach, was the best-selling African record of its time.
Born in a famous family of “griots” – West African musicians and storytellers – he had been nicknamed “the electronic griot”, and was known as a distinguished player of kora – a west African harp.
His song Yéké Yéké became a huge hit in the late 1980s and was widely remixed.
