Fodéba Keïta (January 19, 1921 in

Siguiri Siguiri (N'Ko script, N’ko: ߛߌ߯ߙߌ߲߫; Arabic: سِجِرِ ِ) is a city in northeastern Guinea on the River Niger. It is a Sub-prefectures of Guinea, sub-prefecture and capital of Siguiri Prefecture in the Kankan Region. It is known for ...

– May 27, 1969 at

Camp Boiro Camp Boiro or Camp Mamadou Boiro (1960–1984) is a defunct Guinean concentration camp in the city of Conakry. During the regime of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, thousands of political opponents were imprisoned at the camp. It has been estimated t ...

) was a

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

n dancer, musician, writer, playwright, composer and politician. Founder of the first professional African theatrical troupe, Theatre Africain, he also arranged , the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

of Guinea.

Early years

Keïta was the son of a male nurse. He received his early education at the

École normale supérieure William Ponty École William Ponty was a government teachers' college in French West Africa, in what is now Senegal. The school is now in Kolda, Senegal, where it is currently known as École de formation d’instituteurs William Ponty. It is associated with th ...

Career

During his law studies in Paris in 1948, he founded the band Sud Jazz. Beginning in the late 1940s, he founded Théâtre Africain (later

Les Ballets Africains Les Ballets Africains is the national dance company of Guinea and is based in Conakry. It is one of the first African national dance companies. It has toured extensively around the world. Although the French name might suggest the idea of European ...

), a successful ballet group which toured Africa for six years and later became the national dance company of Guinea; then president of Senegal

Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor ( , , ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese politician, cultural theorist and poet who served as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Ideologically an African socialist, Senghor was one ...

held it in high esteem. With Kanté Facély and Les Ballets Africains, he became instrumental in showcasing previously unknown Mandé performance traditions to other continents as well. After returning to Guinea, he published the poetry collection '' Poèmes africains'' (1950), the novel '' Le Maître d'école'' (1952), and in 1957, Keïta wrote and staged the narrative poem ''Aube africaine'' ("African Dawn") as a theatre-ballet based on the

Thiaroye massacre The Thiaroye massacre was a massacre of black African soldiers serving in French West Africa, committed by the French Army on the morning of 1 December 1944 near Dakar, French Senegal. Those killed were members of the '' Tirailleurs Sénégalais ...

. In ''African Dawn'', a young man called Naman complies with the French colonial rulers by fighting in the French Army only to be killed in Thiaroye in Senegal, in a dispute between West-African soldiers and white officers. However, his works were banned in

French Africa French Africa includes all the historic holdings of France on the African continent. Françafrique French North Africa * Egypt (1798-1801) * French Algeria (1830–1962) * Protectorate of Tunisia (1881–1956) * Protectorate in Morocco (1 ...

as he was considered radical and anticolonial. Politically active in the

African Democratic Rally African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...

, Keïta worked closely with Guinea's first president

Sékou Touré Sekou, also spelled Sékou or Seku, is a given name from the Fula language. It is equivalent to the Arabic ''Sheikh''. People with this name include: People * Sekou (singer), British singer Given name * Seku Amadu (1776–1845), also known as S� ...

from 1956, and in 1957 was elected to the Territorial Assembly. In 1961, Keïta was appointed minister for defense and security. He uncovered alleged plots against Sékou Touré, but was imprisoned in the infamous

, a prison he himself helped construct, for alleged complicity in the February 1969 Labé Plot, and was subjected to torture ("diète noire" – complete food and fluid withdrawal). On May 27, 1969, he was shot dead without trial. Janheinz Jahn, Ulla Schild, Almut Nordmann Seiler "Who's who in African literature: biographies, works, commentaries" H. Erdmann, 1972, ,

Gallery

File:Fotothek df roe-neg 0006215 004 Auftritt eines afrikanischen Ensembles unter der.jpg, An ensemble directed by Fodéba Keïta performing in Germany (1951)

References

Works cited *Iffono, Aly Gilbert: ''Lexique historique de la Guinée-Conakry'', l'Harmattan, Paris, 1992.

External links

Obituary at the Camp Boiro memorial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Foedeba Guinean politicians Guinean dancers Guinean composers Guinean dramatists and playwrights Choreographers People from Siguiri 1921 births 1969 deaths People executed by Guinea by firearm Executed Guinean people Guinean poets Guinean novelists 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century novelists 20th-century poets 20th-century composers Male poets Male novelists Male dramatists and playwrights Male composers National anthem writers 20th-century Guinean male writers Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century male musicians Guinean expatriates in Senegal Guinean expatriates in France