A native of Bamako, Mali, Mamani Keita was raised in the Bambara tradition. From a very young age, she sang with her maternal grandmother. In the early 1980s, she joined the Bamako Orchestra, and then the Malian National Orchestra. In the 1990s she went to live in France, where she was a back-up singer with Salif Keita. She also worked with the group Tama and with pianist Hank Jones. In 2003, she made the electro-world disc Electro Bamako, with Marc Minelli. Three years later, she released Yéléma, in collaboration with the musician and producer Nicolas Repac. Gagner l'argent français came out in 2011.