Youssou N'Dour

b. 1959, Dakar, Senegal. Born in the Medina, or ‘old town’, district of Dakar, N'Dour is the son of Ndeye Sokhna Mboup, herself a well-known traditional musician, who gave him his grounding in the traditional music of the Wolof people. His first public performances came with two local music and drama groups, including Sine Dramatic, which he joined in 1972. The following year he made his first public appearance with a modern band, singing with Orchestre Diamono. In 1975, he toured the Gambia with the band, returning after his parents complained he was too young to start a life on the road. In 1976 N'Dour took the first steps in a career which would establish him as one of Senegal's greatest musical pioneers, joining the Star Band, who were the houseband at Dakar's leading nightspot, the Miami Club. With them N'Dour began to forge the fusion of western electric instrumentation and traditional Wolof rhythms and lyrics that became known as mbalax—a route that was simultaneously being explored by fellow Dakar bands Orchestre Baobab and Orchestre Le Sahel.
In 1979 N'Dour left the Star Band, and set up Etoile De Dakar, which in 1982 he re-formed as Super Etoile De Dakar. The mature mbalax style emerged at this time, as N'Dour added a variety of western instrumentation to the tough, multi-rhythmic Wolof folk songs he was re-interpreting: a base of rolling, flamenco-like guitars, fuzz-box guitar solos and stabbing, Stax-like horns. Slowly the sound developed. Ten cassette releases, starting with TABASKI in 1981, displayed an increasing fullness and power of arrangement. The lyric subject matter ranged from folk tales to celebrations of life in Dakar, and the problems faced by migrants to the cities. In Senegal, N'Dour's reputation increased. His prowess as a praise singer attracted rich and famous patrons, all of them keen to be immortalised in his songs and willing to pay large sums of money for the privilege. Poorer people, particularly the urban youth, identified with his pride in his Wolof roots while also enjoying the rock and soul edges his instrumentation and arrangements brought to the music. Outside Senegal his music received wider attention with the western release of two classic albums, IMMIGRES (1985) and NELSON MANDELA (1986), which picked up sustained critical praise and significant sales in the USA, UK and France. In 1987 N'Dour was invited to support Peter Gabriel on a lengthy USA tour, returning to Dakar with an Akai sampler with which to record and further explore the traditional sounds of Senegal. The results were to be heard on THE LION and its 1990 follow-up SET. For purists in the west, the albums showed rather too much western influence. His Senegalese audience, however, received them with huge enthusiasm. 7 SECONDS a wonderful duet with Neneh Cherry was a hit in 1994. The collision of cultures continues, deliciously.