Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Senegalese musician with one of Africa's finest voices, widely known as a top African artist in the West and a prophetic figure in Senegal.
On the island
Eight records
When you listen to Orchestra Baobab, you see a lot of uh melodies on and a lot of uh chords that come from Cuban music. And for me at that time it was very like a miracle, you know, to see people using Western instruments, using guitars and uh bass and uh drums like in the west, but uh being able to put together traditional African songs and that's why I pick up this song.
The lion is an animal that I I'm a bit afraid of, but I have a lot of respect of the lion because, like we say, in Africa, the lion is the king of the continent. When I was very young, I saw lions.
When I was uh listening to music, what is reading was someone uh that I really see really close to what I know. You know, we have m a lot of melodic instruments in my community, like uh violins, like uh flutes. And his voice was a lot melodic. And this song Amen, since I have a a father who was calling people to come to pray and singing in this religious party, the word Amen.
Baby manga is one of these women. who was very famous in the the African Music, because she sing in her own language, she come from Central Africa and put it on a very western Good arrangement of music with horns and drums and electric guitars.
It's from uh a very good friend who died some time ago. A chora player, the chora is a traditional African harp, I can say, is very close to the harp. And uh this is one of the very big classical African songs, and he play did play it very, very well.
One LoveFavourite
The word one love seems to sound for me like the whole world singing together something really positive. One love, they're singing about love. And I think love is the solution of our problems.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:04Are you able to give voice to people who are not normally heard politically?
I come from a cultural background where the history play a big role. And we know about history listening to these storytellers who use the music to tell these stories. We learn about our responsibility from the music. If you want to be really well recognized in your society, like a musician … you have to have something into your lyrics because music it's not just the melodies and the harmonies, it's also the words.
Presenter asks
4:46How comfortable are you with this political profile [representing Africa and the UN]?
I am very comfortable with that, you know. And I think it's normal because … I am not from a family of musicians. So it was very difficult for me to be a musician. At the north of Senegal, you know, even when you get very famous or very rich or you become someone very important, you are still a part of your community. When I came to the music, I said to myself … if I have [opportunities], I have to change something.
Presenter asks
5:54What was home life like [growing up in northern Senegal]?
Oh, it was really interesting. I think I really got a lot of things when I was young. My father was a fisherman, but at the same time, also he was a musician. He was calling people to come to pray at the mosque. He was a kind of religious musician. My mother was a popular singer. But you know, you can be a popular singer without using it like a profession because you have your work at home, you work in the fields, or you are a fisherman, and in the afternoon, when everything is finished, you can play music.
The keepsakes
The book
David Diop
It's a uh book of poems. Really great book... the way that he described Africa is really exceptional. I see myself inside of it.
The luxury
It would be difficult for me to take an iPod because I when it's discharged I will not uh be able to recharge it. I would have take that. But I will take my guitar, maybe.
Presenter asks
16:42What did you make of Paris when you first arrived?
It was a very big shock, you know, because I was used to take my guitar and to play music any time in any place. I couldn't do that in Paris. Or a way someone will come and knock on your door and say, This is not the time for to to play music and uh just to feel that you're alone because no one talked to you, no one seemed even to look at you. And this is something that you don't know when you grow up, especially in a small uh village in in in in in Africa.
Presenter asks
24:25How would you reply to the argument that African acts don't have cross-cultural appeal for big charity concerts?
It's not fair to not connect the African people, like I say, because Bono, Bob Geldof, and all these people who are very, very ambitious did something really great to talk about the problems of Africa. But at the same time, I think also they will need to be connected to the Africans. It's not just the big cities where people understand French or English or know what's going on, looking at the T Vs. Most of the people who need this support are in the small villages, and these people don't speak English. They don't speak French. They listen to their culture, they listen to their famous musicians, or writers, or historians, or history tellers who can bring the information back and to make them be involved in the big process.
“I knew I don't belong to this family, I belong to something different. I do not know what, because I was very young, but I I could feel it.”
“If you promise me to do songs like this that someone old like me can listen to, I am agree with you to be a musician. And I say, I promise.”
“We know that Africa is passing through a lot of turbulence, but at the same time it's a great place. Energy is there sleeping and waiting for people to come to wake it up.”