Salif Keita, the Golden Voice of Mali

In a village in Mali, a boy was born with skin as pale as sand and hair as white as cotton. His name was Salif Keita, and he had albinism, which means his skin and hair have no colour in them.

In his village, people did not understand it, and they were unkind. Children would not sit beside him. Some grown-ups crossed the road.

There was something else too. Salif's family were descended from Sundiata Keita, the great lion prince who founded Mali long ago. In his family, a boy of royal blood was not supposed to become a singer. Singing was for griot families, not for princes.

But Salif could sing. He had a high, clear, aching voice that made people stop walking.

So he left. He went to the capital, Bamako, with almost nothing, and he sang in the street. Then in a small band. Then in a bigger one. And slowly the same country that had turned away from him began to gather around him.

They started calling him the Golden Voice of Africa.

He sang in enormous halls all over the world. And he used what he had earned to help other children with albinism, so that they would be treated kindly from the start.

The boy nobody would sit beside became the voice of a whole country.

Goodnight. Sing if you want to.