mbalax (senegal)

senegal would be to african music what new orleans is to american
that statement probably displays a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding
but my limited exposure to african music has mali and senegal often referenced
particularly with a number of performers from both countries as regular performers at womad
here's what songlines magazine had to say about the indigineous music of senegal
throbbing, syncopated cross-rhythms played by traditional sabar drums
in an eloquently chattering dialogue with electric guitars, blaring saxophones and full-blooded wolof vocals
it can only be mbalax the dominant sound of modern senegal
pioneered by the incomparable youssou n'dour
that has become one of the rhythmic glories in the rich patchwork of pan-african music
i had the very great pleasure of seeing youssou n'dour at womadelaide a few years ago
on a beautiful sunday night with a huge band, sound system and light show
just a magic night of music with the man completely winning over the audience
the sound of the sabar drum for me now always linked to that performance
even though i have seen and heard it in the hands of others since then
youtube delivered a number of videos featuring youssou n'dour
but as is my want sometimes i was looking for something less familiar
and came across quite a few clips commonly branded 'african divas'
now this is good - not enough women performers in this little project
of blogging the 50 rhythms of the world according to songlines
so i've picked 1 clip that features a female group called ndeye marie ndiaye
which presumably is the first name of each of the 3 performers
this is quite a long video featuring the 3 ladies
and providing a great example of mbalax
strong vocals, incessant drumming, rhythm to spare
(25 of 50)