Fodéba Keïta

Fodéba Keïta
Minister of Defense
In office
1961 – ?
Personal details
Born January 19, 1921
Siguiri, Guinea
Died May 27, 1969
Guinea
Nationality Guinean
Occupation Dancer, musician, writer, playwright, composer and politician

Fodéba Keïta (January 19, 1921 in Siguiri – May 27, 1969 at Camp Boiro) was a Guinean dancer, musician, writer, playwright, composer and politician. Founder of the first professional African theatrical troupe, Theatre Africain,[1] he also arranged Liberté, the national anthem of Guinea.

Contents

Early years

Keïta was the son of a male nurse.[2] He received his early education at the École normale supérieure William Ponty.[3]

Career

During his law studies in Paris in 1948, he founded the band Sud Jazz. Beginning in the late 1940s, he founded Theatre Africain (later Les Ballets Africains),[4] a successful ballet group which toured Africa for six years and later became the national dance company of Guinea; then President Léopold Sédar Senghor held it in high esteem.[5] With Facelli Kante and Les Ballets Africains, he became instrumental in showcasing previously unknown Mandé performance traditions to other continents as well.[6]

After returning to Guinea, he published the poetry collection Poèmes africains (1950),[3] the novel Le Maître d'école (1952), and in 1957, Keïta wrote and staged the narrative poem Aube africaine ("African Dawn")[7] as a theatre-ballet based on the shooting by French troops of protesting Africans who had served in the French army during World War II.[4] However, his works were banned in French Africa as he was considered radical and anticolonial.[3]

Politically active in the African Democratic Rally, Keïta worked closely with Sékou Touré from 1956, and in 1957, was elected to the Territorial Assembly.[8] In 1961, Keïta was appointed minister for defense and security. He uncovered alleged plots against Sékou Touré, but was imprisoned in the infamous Camp Boiro, a prison he himself helped construct,[9] for alleged complicity in the February 1969 Labé Plot,[3] and was subjected to torture ("diet noire" – complete food and fluid withdrawal).

On May 27, 1969, he was shot dead without trial.[10][11]

Gallery

References

  1. ^ Conteh-Morgan, John (1994). Theâtre and drama in Francophone Africa: a critical introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 052143453X. http://books.google.com/books?id=6a-7rPFWXU8C&pg=PA53. 
  2. ^ Taylor, Sidney (1967). Reuters ltd. ed. The New Africans: a guide to the contemporary history of emergent Africa and its leaders (Snippet view ed.). Putnam. p. 1967. http://books.google.com/books?id=qYcaAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Fod%C3%A9ba+Ke%C3%AFta%22&dq=%22Fod%C3%A9ba+Ke%C3%AFta%22&hl=en&ei=F0vxTMLMN4TCsAO0noTlBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ. 
  3. ^ a b c d O'Toole, Thomas; Baker, Janice E. (2005). Historical dictionary of Guinea. Scarecrow Press. pp. 123–124. ISBN 0810846349. http://books.google.com/books?id=kIiHwg3Y5u4C&pg=PA123. 
  4. ^ a b Banham, Martin (2004). A history of theatre in Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN 0521808138. http://books.google.com/books?id=RZXtk9bCZ-8C&pg=PA102. 
  5. ^ Onwudiwe, Ebere (2003). Afro-optimism: perspectives on Africa's advances. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 54. ISBN 027597586X. http://books.google.com/books?id=-2wyFaU_FVkC&pg=PA54. 
  6. ^ Charry, Eric S. (2000). Mande music: traditional and modern music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa. University of Chicago Press. p. 348. ISBN 0226101614. http://books.google.com/books?id=_gA9a3qkglwC&pg=PA348. 
  7. ^ Otero, Solimar; Ter Haar, Hetty (2010). Narrating War and Peace in Africa. University Rochester Press. p. 232. ISBN 1580463304. http://books.google.com/books?id=ii1P98ygNXAC&pg=PA232. 
  8. ^ Legum, Colin (1961). Africa: a handbook to the continent. A. Blond. http://books.google.com/books?id=SBovAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Fod%C3%A9ba+Ke%C3%AFta%22&dq=%22Fod%C3%A9ba+Ke%C3%AFta%22&hl=en&ei=F0vxTMLMN4TCsAO0noTlBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBg. 
  9. ^ Hudgens, Jim; Trillo, Richard (2003). The rough guide to West Africa. Rough Guides. p. 547. ISBN 1843531186. http://books.google.com/books?id=VW0490G1ie8C&pg=PA547. 
  10. ^ African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 2001 "Research in African literatures, Volume 32"
  11. ^ Janheinz Jahn, Ulla Schild, Almut Nordmann Seiler "Who's who in African literature: biographies, works, commentaries" H. Erdmann, 1972, ISBN 3771101530,

External links