Senegal (Mbalax): Senegal—wow! There is so much good music that has come from here that this may take 2 posts.
The most recognized names from Senegal are
Youssou N’Dour and
Baaba Maal. Both come out of a Senegalese tradition of popular dance music called “mbalax,” but N’Dour and others like him where influenced by mainly Cuban and other music from the Americas, and Maal and others like him were influenced by Paris and Western Europe. A third important musician is
Thione Seck, who merges traditional Senegalese music with Arabic and Indian influences. I will give examples of these three strains of influence below.
In the 1950s and 60s, because of heavy colonialism from the West, the most-played music in Senegal was jazz, soul, Latin and rock. But, in the 70s when colonialism began to wane, there was a new emphasis on merging more traditional Senegalese music, which depended on drumming and singers-storytellers called the “griots,” with the imported Western music. This blend of music was called “mbalax” after the name of the actual rhythm used in traditional drumming. So, in mbalax there is a definite strong drum beat as the base, a strong message in the words, and dance rhythms.
Youssou N’Dour and the band,
Etoile de Dakar, were the most influential in introducing traditional music from Senegal with Latin beat. Etoile de Dakar has a large number of full tracks on last.fm, both with and without N’Dour:
Etoile De Dakar – Listen free and discover music at Last.fm
N’Dour has a large number of tracks himself:
Youssou N'Dour – Listen free and discover music at Last.fm
One of his videos:
Youssou N'Dour’s Music Videos – Listen free and discover music at Last.fm
His 2005 album, Egypt, caused a stir in Senegal because it so heavily incorporated messages about Islam. The following trailer for a documentary about N’Dour shows a little about this controversy and his insistence that religion had to be part of at least some of his music:
YouTube - YOUSSOU NDOUR: I BRING WHAT I LOVE trailer
N’Dour has collaborated with many Western artists, such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Paul Simon, Bruce Springstein, Tracy
Chapman, and Branford Marsalis, to name a few.
Other mbalax artists with Cuban influence are:
Alioune Mbaye Nder: SenVideo - Alioune Mbaye Nder - Confiance or:
http://www.videosurf.com/video/confi...-nder-54453193
Omar Pène and the
Super Diamono band:
Omar Pene Et Super Diamono’s Music Videos – Discover music at Last.fm
Ismael Lo was also with Super Diamono until he went solo. His solo work is not as much influenced by Cuban rhythm, but is more
singer/songwriter in style. He is known as “the Bob Dylan of Senegal" because of his use of guitar, harmonica, and thoughtful, sometimes
political, lyrics.
Beautiful music:
YouTube - Ismael Lo - Tajabone
YouTube - Ismael Lo - Jammu Africa
Here is a nice duet between Ismael and English singer, Marianne Faithful--
very soulful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfehKorG_Qs
+++
There is a large number of contemporary
female mbalax artists from Senegal:
The most fun (and beautiful!),
Coumba Gawlo:
YouTube - Coumba Gawlo Seck, Fa fa fa fa fa fa
….and her Senegalese rendition of Mariam Makeba’s, Pata Pata--
the ultimate feel-good dance song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE-BxIQ3z8A
My favorite,
Fatou Guewël, who has a number of full tracks on last.fm:
Fatou Guewel – Listen free and discover music at Last.fm
Rap fusion and sexy,
Viviane N'Dour:
YouTube - African Divas - Senegal - Mbalax - Viviane Ndour
Other women worth checking out are: Fatou Laobé, Kiné Lam, Amy Mbengue, and Ndeye Marie Ndiaye.
This is enough for now. I will provide some Baaba Maal and others in next post.