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Youssou N'Dour.
Sengalese superstar Youssou N'Dour is returning to Australia after a 12 year absence. On his first visit he headlined the inaugural WOMADelaide Festival in 1992 with the late qawaali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. "On that visit, I met some new Sengalese migrants," he says by phone from his home in Dakar, with a French interpreter on standby. "I am interested to see how the Sengalese community has thrived in Australia since. When I go to New York, I can see how they have helped make Harlem thrive again. They have good business brains. They are learning to be Americans, and they are making a contribution."
N'Dour brings a taste of a Senegal party when he plays every Saturday in his own club in Dakar, the 2,000-capacity Thiossane ("The Story"). Each year, he plays the Great African Ball in New York, Paris and Dakar, an event that becomes bigger every year.
"There is nothing more proud than seeing 100,000 people come to a concert, as in Dakar in 1999, and seeing every colour of the rainbow. It makes you realise music is the international language."
He takes a touch of Senegal when he tours the world. His 11-piece all-star band Super Etoile de Dakar, wearing flamboyant African costumes, play a mix of traditional and modern electric instruments. He plays a fusion music called mbalax in his native Wolof dialect, and weaves them with strong socio-political stories.
"I didn't just end up playing traditional instruments," he points out. "I also wrote songs. That was the influence of my maternal grandmother, with whom I grew up with. She was a singer and a story teller, and she told me it was important to tell stories."
Among N'Dour's latest songs, Honour Her is a love song to Africa. As In A Mirror recalls looking at his four children at play, and feeling wistful because of his lost childhood. Born in 1959 in the poor suburb of Medina, by 13 Youssou had become a local hero because of his clear and powerful voice, playing pirate gigs outside dance clubs. In 1976 he joined Senegal's top nightclub band, Etoile de Dakar (Star of Dakar), which made him a huge pop star.
Two things broke him worldwide. One was a network of taxi drivers
in European cities like Paris and Rome who set up gigs for him.
The other was Peter Gabriel who invited him to sing on In
Your Eyes and open for him on a world tour. The two remain
close friends, appearing together late last year with Bono,
Beyonce and members of Queen at the Nelson Mandela Concert in
South Africa to raise money to combat AIDS in Africa.
"When Mr. Mandela joined us onstage, I was the one who welcomed him. We were singing a song to him, it was very emotional. I was thinking how this person is involved in something so important."
Aside from his own nightclub, N'Dour has his own radio station
and recording studio, and invests in telecommunications. He
has had his own international hits. A 1994 duet with Neneh Cherry
Seven Seconds reached #3 on the UK charts (from his 'Wommat:
The Guide' album), which he followed up with Joko (The Link)
in 2000 and Nothing's In Vain in 2002. Nothing's In
Vain makes the point, "you can be a player of the African
instrument, the kora, not a rich person. But you can still be
a hero if people take the time to listen."
N'Dour believes in putting words in action. He set up the Youth Network for Development. It campaigns against AIDS, trains people to work computers and use the Internet, participates in vaccination programs, and gives out thousands of gifts to underprivileged kids at the end of the year.
A strong Muslim, he made an album last year called 'Sant' that consolidated the positive messages of the religion. In the wake of the allied forces invasion of Iraq, he angrily cancelled a 40-date tour of the U.S. "I'm not Bruce Springsteen in the US, I'm not that big there!" he laughs. "It was more symbolic. It's difficult to play music in a country which engages in war. I preferred to stay at home and be with my family. I have since returned to play in America. The press understood why I did what I did. My problem is not with American people but the American government. Any one who makes people die is bad, whether he's from America or whether he's a terrorist."
Christie Eliezer
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Youssou N'Dour features at this year's WOMADelaide Festival.
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