Soul Keita

Soul is an Ethiopian musician and painter living in Paris. He considers Mulatu Astatke his spiritual father. He began writing songs at twelve years old when his father taught him to play the kissar, an ancient East African lyre. He works solely with a dusty 808 and traditional Ethiopian instruments in order to create melancholic folk house.

Soul grew up in Addis Ababa, but left home for secondary school in Cairo. A series of personal setbacks led him to nearly quit making music, until he met Nikita and Nico on a school trip to the Sonora desert. Their collaboration re-inspired Soul, and when he returned to Egypt, he began meeting and playing alongside local musicians.