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Member of:

Super Etoile Star Band

Language:

Wolof English French

Genre:

Mbalax Afropop

Instrument:

Male vocals

Articles:
On Senegalese music (in Danish)
Additional biography
On Gambian music

On Islam in Senegal
On Youssou N'Dour's produktion

On the Internet
Sound samples (search artist)
Complete discography
"EGYPT" diary
On Senegal - culture & people

Biography

He is one of African music's pioneers who has emphatically put African music on the world's map over the past 15 years. Youssou N'Dour was born in Medina, "the old town" in Dakar, Senegal. At an early age his mother, Ndeye Mdoup, taught him the traditional music and songs of the Wolof people, to which the family belongs, and which is still a large and important group in West Africa.
As a youngster Youssou N'Dour began to perform with music and drama groups in his hometown, Dakar, which since colonial times has been an important centre of culture in West Africa. In 1973 he gave his first public performance with a modern band. In 1975 he went on tour to The Gambia, but was called home by his parents who thought he was too young to embark on the touring life. A year later he was with Star Band, the house band at the Miami Club, Dakar's leading nightclub at the time.
Together with Star Band Youssou N'Dour, who was still a teenager, experimented with a meld of traditional Wolof music with western instruments. This mix style went by the name of mbalax. In 1979 Youssou N'Dour started up his own band, Etoile, in Dakar. This was reorganised and renamed Super Etoile de Dakar in 1982. He continued to introduce new elements into the music, which now began to find its own form: a group of west African drums and bass, supplemented by guitars, brass instruments and keyboards. The first cassette for the home market was recorded in 1981 and a rack of cassettes followed. In the Wolof lyrics he comments on life in Dakar and takes themes from Wolof mythology.
Youssou N'Dour's popularity in Senegal was still growing: rich Senegalese were willing to pay N'Dour to write songs about themselves. However, the poor youth identified with Wolof roots and liked his pulling in of sharp rock elements into the traditional music. The albums "Immigres" (1985) and "Nelson Mandela" (1986) provided him with his international breakthrough and lead to musical cooperation with Peter Grabriel. The two went on tour in 1987.
After his debut on the international scene Youssou N'Dour has made discs for the world market. He tours the world over but holds on tight to his African roots by continuing to live in Senegal together with his family. He continues to make disks and cassettes designed especially for the African market to supplement his international releases.

Relevant artists:
Baaba Maal
Cheikh Lô
Orchestra Baobab
Tama

IMMIGRÉS
Earthworks/1985

Regarded by many as the last of Youssou N'Dour's "African" discs.

NELSON MANDELA
Earthworks/1986

THE LION  
Virgin/1989

The disk opens with "The Lion", with a horn section and a female choir that make me think of 1960s British pop. It continues in the same gait with "Shakin' The Tree", sung and produced in cooperation with Peter Gabriel. Again, there are few African impulses here - this is international pop.
Following this opening N’Dour tries to regain balance, so to speak, with some more "African" stuff, but the production is still cool and high tech and is reminiscent of Sting. I think it ill-serves N'Dour. "The Lion" is never more than a fumbling pop album, with pure electric instruments. Tama, "talking drum", is the only African instrument on the disc. It doesn't swing.

SET  
Virgin/1990

A modern album that stands the test of time. It has all the elements that have made N'Dour a world star: his sometimes screeching but also warm voice, good arrangements with a tight drum backing with alternating saxophone and guitar solos superimposed. But there is something in this CD that doesn't touch me. Perhaps it is too clever. It's better towards the end where Youssou N'Dour lets loose with some melodious, catchy songs such as, for xample, "Fakastulu", "Hey You!" and the final track, "Ay chono la" that is warm and poetic - a little pearl.

EYES OPEN  
Colombia/1992

A distinctly international CD with titles such as "New Africa" and "Live Television". Youssou N’Dour sings alternately in Wolof, English and French. He balances the whole time on a hairfine line between the traditional and the more indistinct "modern". I feel the above-mentioned opening sounds tilt too far toward "mainstream world music", but the CD grows as one plays on. At his best, Youssou N’Dour has a deep and warm voice that can perhaps best be compared with Bob Marley. As a general rule, the more he expresses himself in an African manner, the better N'Dour becomes. The blind French keyboard man, Jean-Phillipe Rykiel, has co-produced and this he does in a professional but also synthetic way. On stage, Youssou N’Dour is more direct, more earthbound with, among others, drums further out in the sound picture. I could have wished for that sense of being earthbound to shine through a little more from this CD. Perhaps this is the viewpoint of a purist, but nevertheless-.

ABSA GUEYE  
Sterns Africa/1998

ETOILE DE DAKAR, featuring YOUSSOU N'DOUR.
An absolute pearl of a CD. This is the old orchestration of Youssou N'Dour, from long before money and fame in Europe, and it is completely brilliant! The CD is a live concert from Dakar, recorded in 1979, where we meet Senegalese music at a time of breakthrough for Dakar's star. At this moment Youssou N'Dour is a teenager experiencing explosive fame in his homeland, and this album shows why! We hear both the old Latino inspired songs and the first small portions of nationally based mbalax-rhythms that, to a certain extent, would make him internationally big.
There are those who believe he made his best stuff before he met Peter Gabriel and became encumbered with Real World - here we get all those things! This album, from Stern's African Classic, is equipped with eight pages of lyrics and information. What more could you want? A plane ticket to Dakar?
(Click record company for sound sample.)

Arne Berg.

THE GUIDE (WOMMAT)  
Colombia/1994

This CD continues where "Eyes Open" left off. The sound, the band and troops are more or less the same, but the sound is more accomplished. Even though the disc has relied upon some tightness, there is not a single bad song on the album. This is despite 16 songs and a running time of 76 minutes. Perhaps this is because Youssou N’Dour sings more consistently in Wolof, but "The Guide" is a more organic disc than its predecessors. It’s a piece of work, created by a musician who is well supported and knows exactly what he wants. Never mind that "7 Seconds" (together with jazz pianist Don Cherry's daughter, Nene) and "Undecided" are commercial sounds, sung in English with full-synthesized arrangement. We forgive him.
"The Guide" is an overabundant cornucopia of an album. It has everything, from the aforementioned single hits to calm and contemplative sounds and on to dance music. You even get Dylan sung in Wolof here, in "Chimes of Freedom". Most of it works; this is afropop at its best. "The Guide" will be a hard act to follow.

JOKO  
Colombia/2000

But Youssou N'Dour has done it again! Or has he? After the remarkable "The Guide" he is truly on track at the turn of the millennium with an album that gets the audience to gasp! For here Youssou N'Dour truly summarises most of what he has hitherto done and goes a step further. He produces more rabbits out of his hat in the form of exciting cooperation with the rapper Wyclef Jean; they sing "How Come?" together.
Youssou N'Dour grows by metres with inventive arrangements in everything from traditional Wolof sounds, such as "Birima", to intense vibrating pop classics such as "This Dream", sung as a duet with Peter Gabriel. As if this wasn't enough, Sting pops up in the atmospheric "Don't Walk Away".
Maybe the album goes in too many directions, and maybe Youssou N'Dour again has mingled too close with the international pop industry. An analytic replay after the first romantic meeting confirms this. And observant readers of the guide will notice a downgrade of the album. But I have to add; "Joko" is still a good album. What Youssou N'Dour does, he does extremely well.

REWMI  
Jololi/2000

It is with excitement that one puts "Rewmi" in the player the first time. What is this? Youssou N'Dour has much to defend after the brilliant "Joko" of last year. "Rewmi" is a spartanly equipped album with simple layout, and no accompanying lyrics. The sound quality is not Spartan, however. This is truly a disc made for Youssou N'Dour's African audiences, produced by N'Dour's own Senegalese company, Jololi.
The disc, from N'Dour's "African career", is not normally distributed outside Africa. That "Rewmi” has ended up at our latitude is due to the contribution to the omnipresent Swedish AMIGO Company. We should be glad that AMIGO exists, for this is a shining album! It is in fact the African version of “Joko”. I have previously (see over) searched for a sound from Youssou N’Dour that is more like what he does live. Here is the disc for which many of us have waited! On “Rewmi” , all the pop elements that sell Youssou N’Dour to international audiences are stripped off. The music really stands forward. The drums are here, rolling, as they should as the driving element. Talkingdrums sound underneath, as cascades of rhythmic, pleasing sound and create the rolling sound that is typical of mbalax. The synt is still in place but is better balanced against the drums and guitar. It’s especially clear on the track “Yaama”. On Columbia’s release of “Joko” this is a fairly ordinary pop song; on Rewmi” it’s a rhythmic and deep masterwork. The song has several layers and one is drawn into the ritual, circular rhythms that define African music. To compare “Joko” and "Rewmi" is really a study in musical strategy. "Joko" is, as known, not a bad album(!) but it is sweetened to satisfie the world’s ethnic pop market. "Rewmi" is rich, rhythmic, African music; perhaps the best I have ever heard from Youssou N’Dour.

BA TAY
Jololi/2001

BIRTH OF A STAR  
Manteca/2001

This CD consists of tracks from Youssou N'Dours career in the 80's, compiled from different sources. Which the cover doesn't say. I have found most of them on other compilations. The selection documents at least that Youssou N'Dour has gone through a considerable development since the 1980's. 20 years ago the brass section was a steady element in the mbalax, as an echo from the Cuban/Latin influence in Senegalese music at the time. Personally I'm not excited about many of these recordings. The brass sounds cracky and the songs a bit messy. The best on this CD are the more rocky songs, as "Ndar", "Bekoor" and "Djino". And for instance "Bes" . The brass section has more of a background function in these songs, they are driven by talking drums, guitar and Youssou Ndour's lovely voice. And they rock steady, with a certain reggae feeling. These tracks are brilliant and show why Youssou N'Dour has become a star. The rest does not move me.

ROUGH GUIDE TO
World Music Network/2002

LE GRAND BAL - VOL. 1
Jololi/2002

LE GRAND BAL - VOL. 2
Jololi/2002

NOTHING'S IN VAIN  
Nonesuch/2002

Youssou N'Dour is back with a new exciting album. Like many of his West African collegues, Mory Kante and Salif Keita, for instance, he takes a step back and peels off much of what international pop industry has added to his music over the years. And out of the speakers flow tunes that stand out as far more organic than what he produced on "Joko", his international release from 2000. "Nothing's in vain" sounds a lot more like the African version of "Joko", "Rewmi". In fact one of the tracks from "Rewmi" is found on "Nothing-", but with a new title. The sound is rarely organic, the atmosphere is above all warm, "Nothing's in vain" is a record that make you feel glad, not to say happy. Like on "Rewmi" the stripping down of the more popish arrangements makes the genuine core of the music stand out. The drums roll sensously on, and on top of them, Youssou N'Dour's warm voice. It's not that "Nothing-" is so totally different from "Joko", the melodies are kept in the same Wolof genre, and also on "Nothing-" several songs can be characterised as afropop. But the arrangements are more careful, down to earth; if he sings in something else than Wolof, it is mostly in French. The chanson tradition is closer to Wolof traditional music than Angloamerican funk. Therefore "Nothing's in vain" becomes a more integrated record, among the best Youssou N'Dour has made.

SANT
Jololi/2003

Same album as "Egypt", issued 6 months earlier, in Senegal.
Click record company + (search for artist) for music samples.

EGYPT  
Nonesuch/2004

Youssou N'Dour has regularly been criticised, and rightly so, for flirting with the more commercially orientated side of the music business. This time, however, Youssou N'dour has created an album which in no terms whatsoever can be defined as commercial.
The cyclus of songs constituting "Egypt" was originally intended as an aid and inspiration to the composer's personal reflections and was not meant for publishing. The songs were recorded in 1999. However, events such as Manhattan September 11th have put things in a different perspective. In fact, his friends first persuaded N'Dour to release these songs, but then the terrorist attack led to a postponement of the project.
The 8 songs on the album represent Yousssou N'Dour's own spiritual thinking within the Senegalese Islamittic tradition, the Sufi. Islam has been of major importance in Senegalese history since the 11th century, and has continued to play an important role spiritually, politically and culturally. The religious community formed by Amadou Bamba was a powerful force in the Senegalese fight to get rid of the French colonial occupation of the country from the end of the 1890's.(See " On Islam in Senegal" above.)
The songs on "Egypt" are part of this tradition and reflect Youssou N'Dour's thoughts and emotions. The lyrics appear in the sleeve notes. Furthermore, Youssou N'Dour has succeeded in reinventing himself musically: His ordinary backing band Super Etoile has been replaced by an Egyptian string orchestra. "Egypt" is entirely an accoustic album. Youssou N'Dour's voice is perfectly suited to this music, which sometimes sounds like the Arabic influenced music of East Africa, the taarab. The string instruments also match the kora well, sometimes giving an almost swinging effect, of which the track "Tijaniyya" is a good example!
As mentioned, this is by no means commercial, it is in fact African crossover music, beautiful and contemplative. It will, however, sound unusual to most Western ears.
This record states Youssou N'Dour's postion in African music today. Against the backdrop of the present political pressure against Islam from the West, he, as one of the most succesful African artists, has produced a pure Muslem record. It is by no means a missionary album however, and there are no attempts to cheaply please his audience. "Egypt" is of course executed with finesse, lyrically as well as musically. This album breaks most barriers and is hard to pigeonhole; it is a brave and personal artistic project. I will not be surprised if "Egypt" ends up standing as one of Youssou N'Dour's most important recordings.

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