Un grand musicien sort de l’ombre -
Cheick Tidiane Seck, l'insoumis de la "world music"
La star malienne Salif Keita définit la musique tel un arbre: les racines représentent la musique africaine, le tronc c'est le jazz, les branches et les fruits sont le rock, le funk, le reggae et autres musiques. Son compatriote Cheick Tidiane Seck est sans doute la synthèse et l'illustration parfaite de cette métaphore. Multi-instrumentiste, compositeur, arrangeur et directeur musical, Cheick Tidiane Seck est surtout connu pour ses talents de claviériste. Tout au long de sa carrière, il a accompagné des artistes aussi variés que Jimmy Cliff, Fela, Joe Zawinul, Carlos Santana ou Hank Jones. Un grand musicien, dont le savoir-faire s'est exercé dans l'ombre, loin des feux de la rampe world music. Seck est un insoumis; il refuse d'enfermer la musique africaine dans un ghetto, d'en faire une "tiers musique".
Frédérique Briard - Marianne N° 351 (semaine du 12 au 18 janvier 2004)
From Paris to Bamako, everyone knows Cheikh Tidiane Seck… He\'s the
warlord of the keyboard! His valour is a legend, and he\'s a warrior
with a sound as awesome as it is peaceful, as you might guess from his
nickname, Black Buddha... Take your pick from those eighty-eight black
and white keys: his sense of attack, the way he unloads phrases like so
many bombs, each with an implacable groove… they have turned the hands
of the man from Mali into things of praise, to be sung by everyone.
\"I\'m a musician, and I can go from a simple folksong to modern,
sophisticated harmony,\" says Cheikh Tidiane Seck. A stalwart in the
Super Rail Band and a disciple of Jimmy Smith, he has become famous in
every register, as much at home in Mandingo territory as he is in the
jazz land, whether playing in the vanguard of London\'s jungle or
alongside the bosses of the hip-hop scene in Paris. Yet he bided his
time until he was past fifty before his name appeared alone: on a pair
of supersonic records, \"Mandingroove\" and \"Sabaly\".