Music is a language the whole world can speak, it unites people from across the globe but I think it’s fair to say that music is unequally picked up and transmitted.

Pop music dominates the sound waves and generally these artists tend to be westerners, the world’s biggest stars hailing from America or Europe.

When was the last time you can honestly remember hearing a record by a Senegalese artist on mainstream radio? Artists take inspiration from around the world but most music accreditation lie with those artists from the west.

Youssou N'Dour: Senegalese artist

This is Youssou N’Dour, hailed the greatest African artist of the century but how many of us in the west have heard his name or heard his music?

If we did hear it would we class it as Senegalese music or throw it into the category of World Music? I think the answer to this lies on our High Streets. If you walk into any HMV in any part of the UK you will find, probably near the back of the store,  the World Music section. If you take a closer look at this section you will see it is split into a small number of very simple categories.

On the web page this is shown as:

African

Arabia

Asia

European

Oceanic

The Americas

Such a simplistic way to look at the world generally. It reflects who are the most powerful countries in the world. American and UK artists dominate the majority of shelves in places like HMV but not only in the UK. The global superstars of today are not representative of the world but of the west and richer nations. Those who can afford to compete in music industry. Therefore I believe those who dominate the music industry are a reflection of the uneven wealth of our world.

Artists such as Lady Gaga can afford to market themselves across the world and put on elaborate shows and make expensive music videos so their music is heard by the world.

The music industry has taken a lot of stick recently when it comes to how it has changed and being run as a business by businessmen, not creative people. I found this video quite interesting and the comments made by Radiohead.

For those classed as world music artists, one of the only ways to make it into mainstream music is to collaborate with well-known artists from the west. This can be seen through the example of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Paul Simon on his album Graceland, whilst they may have already been contributing to international music in a huge way, for them to be known globally they needed to team up with someone like Paul Simon.

Here’s some of their well-known hits

And a clip on the story of how the album Graceland was made, the first album of its kind, a collaboration between World Music artists and western artists

And an example of how their boost to the limelight by Paul Simon saw them make their way onto the famous American Children’s TV show Sesame Street

The dissemnation of music around the world is uneven and unfair. Artists from the west pick up inspiration from the traditional music of poorer countries but do not give appropriate accreditation. Despite Paul Simon bringing Ladysmith Black Mombazo to the attention of the west, he still received criticism for taking the credit.

The publicity given to the group through the collaboration

Youssou N’Dour also gained greater publicity across the globe by collaborating with Peter Gabriel

So is the music industry stuck in a bad romance? My answer would be yes. Surely it cannot call itself a completely global business if it ignores music that is not from America or Europe?

Really. His absurd idea of cash prizes for ‘good’ presidents is rarely greeted with the guffaws it deserves. Flying into Dar this last weekend with Angelique Kidjo and Youssou N’dour as his court jesters – paid for by mobile phone company Zain, the company he established – smacks of megalomania.

They played two shows – one in a suburban shopping centre for the esteemed leaders and one in town for those who can afford 25,000 Tanzanian Shillings. That’s not a lot in Mo’s world, or indeed in mine, but a small fortune in Dar terms. Were they flown in just to entertain Mo and his governancistas? Couldn’t he pony up for a free show for those busy being governed?

Oh my dear Youssou….. You were once so good…

Le 14 novembre 2009 la fondation Mo Ibrahim organise  à Dar-es-Salaam  en Tanzanie, un concert ou l’on pourra voir les vedettes africaines comme Lady Jaydee ou bien encore Youssou N’Dour, Emmanuel Jal. Ce concert sera suivi le 15 novembre par un forum regroupant différents acteurs du monde politique, économique, et culturel afin de parler des problématiques auxquelles le continent est confronté ainsi que des opportunités mais aussi de l’agriculture et de la sécurité alimentaire ainsi que de l’intégration économique. Plusieurs personnalités seront présentent de la communauté d’afrique de l’est et de la millenium challenge corportation, mais également de la banque africaine.

“Tadieu Bone”, ewentualnie “Tajabone”, to obchodzone w Senegalu muzułmańskie święto i o nim jest właśnie piosenka Tajabone, ewentualnie Tadieu Bone (1990), senegalskiego artysty Ismaëla Lô. Jeśli jednak zna się tylko języki europejskie, to usłyszy się w niej jedynie powtarzane słowo “woolly”. Właśnie to słowo, oraz obecność w sąsiedztwie dość wełnistego psa, zainspirowało moją żonę do stworzenia mini-komiksu o Wooliem, ewentualnie Łulim, wełnistym psie (obrazek). W ten oto sposób ta religijna pieśń stała się dla nas na zawsze “piosenką o Łulim”.

Ismaël Lô to drugi, po Youssou N’dour, najpopularniejszy muzyk z Senegalu. Dość późno się o tym świetnym piosenkarzu dowiedziałem (właśnie dzięki Tajabone – na składance The Rough Guide to World Music), bo taka Marianne Faithfull nagrywała z nim już w 1996 roku. Podczas szukania linków okazało się, że Tajabone zostało wykorzystane w filmie Wszystko o mojej matce Pedro Almodóvara. No cóż, oglądałem to dziesięć lat temu – moje niewykształcone ucho nie zauważyło perły. Wszystkich zachęcam do posłuchania, bo to piękny kawałek.

Linki:

Oficjalny teledysk do Tajabone.

Tajabone na żywo.

Trailer do Wszystko o mojej matce (z piosenką).

Wyjaśnienie tekstu.

Bonus: Ismaël Lô i Marianne Faithfull – Without Blame.

Click image to download

In heavy rotation lately, what a killer. The break, with the hand claps and the talking drums, just knocks me out, and then the horns come sliding back in, so great.

By Julia White
Grants-M&E Manager, ChildFund Senegal

I step onto the stage and see in front of me through the bright lights, a sea of thousands of screaming Senegalese fans. Youssou Ndour, the famous Senegalese, Grammy-winning singer and activist stands in front of me as his fans try to get his attention. His voice is full of passion as he talks to the crowd, urging every single one of them, rich and poor, young and old, to stand-up against malaria.

More than 15,000 fans attend the Xeex Sibbiru (Fight Malaria) concert. (Photo: (c) Catherine Karnow/Malaria No More)

I stand among several key partners who have been asked to go on stage at this concert in Guediwaye, Senegal, to be recognized for their collaboration with Malaria No More and the Fondation Youssou Ndour in making the first step of the Surround Sound: Senegal campaign a reality. I feel very proud to work for ChildFund Senegal as I hear Youssou Ndour call out our name and personally thank us.

The idea behind Surround Sound: Senegal is to mix multiple communication channels with the best local marketers from the worlds of entertainment, sport, faith and business to create a 360-degree malaria education and advocacy campaign in Senegal that reaches everyone at every level. The first step of the campaign has been the use of Senegal fan-favorite Youssou Ndour to develop a song promoting malaria prevention.

The song is called Xeex Sibbiru, which in English means “fight malaria.” The song challenges Senegalese to see the impact malaria has on all aspects of their lives and to see that they need to choose to take action and take responsibility to prevent malaria in their families and their communities.

ChildFund Senegal and Malaria No More share the objective of promoting malaria prevention in Senegal. ChildFund Senegal leads a consortium of NGOs (ChildFund Senegal, Africare, Catholic Relief Services, Counterpart International, Plan and World Vision) in the implementation of the USAID-funded Community Health Project.

Youssou Ndour thanks the partners involved in the malaria-prevention campaign. (Photo (c) Catherine Karnow/Malaria No More)

The project includes two components: an integrated package of community-based maternal and child health services, and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) community malaria component. Both components are community-based prevention and treatment efforts that involve significant mass-distribution of drugs and information/education/communication via community Health Huts. The PMI component is implemented in more than 1,370 health huts and covers an estimated 4 million people, including children under age 5 and pregnant women.

Through this USAID-funded Project, ChildFund Senegal and the consortium of NGOs distributed the song at the community level in 13 out of the 14 regions of Senegal and now continue to conduct awareness-raising sessions in conjunction with the song. Different target groups, such as grandmothers, heads-of-households, mothers, children and community leaders, are organized to listen to the song and either discuss it or create their own songs, skits or stories related to what they heard.

This approach ensures that all the different decision-makers and target groups at the community level are getting the same messages and are processing the information in a way that is meaningful to them. The song was also distributed at the community level via community radio and continues to be aired.

A group of grandmothers listen to the "Xeex Sibbiru" (fight malaria) song on cassette as part of the community-mobilization effort. (Photo (c) Catherine Karnow/Malaria No More)

In the program region of Mbour alone, the community activities, not including the local radio, have already been able to reach 18,339 with the song and its powerful malaria-prevention message.

ChildFund Senegal and the consortium are helping to ensure the bottom-up coverage of the Surround Sound: Senegal campaign. Malaria No More and the Fondation Youssou NDour are ensuring the top-down coverage with mass media such as the launch concert, and national and regional radio diffusion. The different local marketers from sports, entertainment, business and religion that join the campaign will ensure the side coverage.

Having been involved in malaria prevention in Senegal since 1998, ChildFund Senegal is interested to see the impact this 360 degree approach will have and is hopeful that this is just the push Senegal needs to take malaria prevention to the next level.

For more information about our work in Senegal, click here.

More on Senegal
Population: 12.5 million
ChildFund beneficiaries: More than 4.6 million children and families
Did You Know?: About 75% of Senegal’s population lives in rural areas. All Senegalese speak an indigenous language, of which Wolof has the largest usage.

What’s next: An update from Angola

Il y a quelque temps, j’ai eu une grande discussion téléphonique avec le manager d’un artiste suisse dont je tairais le nom. Le dit manager était aussi un grand fan et producteur de musiques africaines et antillaises. il me reprochait, ainsi qu’à la plupart de mes confrères journalistes mon élitisme musical, arguant que la musique africaine dont on parle en Europe – Ali Farka Touré, Rokia Traoré… – n’était pas le fait d’artistes représentatifs de leur pays ou de leur continent puisque “se vendant” mal au pays. Et pourquoi donc ne parlait-on jamais de la musique populaire africaine: le kuduro en Angola, le rap ou Koffi Olomide qui remplit chaque année le stade de Bercy, Meiway et tous les autres que j’oublie…

Ce à quoi je rétorquais que le stade de Bercy était rempli de Congolais quand Koffi Olomidé s’y produit. Les goûts ne sont pas les mêmes et ce qui plaît aux uns, ne plaît pas aux autres. Mais surtout, le critère de popularité ne peut être retenu comme le seul critère d’intérêt pour un journaliste. Pour preuve tous les compositeurs de musique classique et tous les peintres qui n’eurent aucun succès de leur vivant et furent encensés après leur mort. Cela dit, se pencher sur les grands courants musicaux, parfois passionnants et foisonnants comme le kuduro, peut être très intéressant, d’un point de vue social comme artistique. Mais que dire sur le zouk mutant du Cap Vert qui fait se remplir les pistes de danse des discothèques, mais qui nous laisse de marbre.

Pourquoi parler de l’un et pas de l’autre. Après avoir retourné la question dans tous les sens, j’ai résolu le problème par un parti pris entièrement subjectif: je ne parle et n’écris que sur des musiques qui me touchent, des musiques dont j’ai envie de me faire la “passeuse” parce que j’ai été séduite par les valeurs ou l’énergie qu’elles véhiculent. Inutile de “ghettoïser” la world music là-dedans, car c’est un a priori que j’ai toujours appliqué à toutes les musiques qu’elles soient américaines, congolaises ou françaises. Sans aucune prétention.

En fait, le terme même de world music ou de musique du monde (comme celui de black music d’ailleurs) m’énerve. Et là je rejoins mon interlocuteur qui affirmait que  la world music telle qu’elle existe depuis près de 30 ans est une nouvelle forme de néo-colonialisme. Mettre toutes les musiques (autres que nos musiques occidentales) dans un sac est évidemment incroyablement réducteur. On ne peut même pas parler d’une musique africaine ou asiatique, c’est comme si on parlait d’une musique américaine ou européenne sans tenir des comptes des spécificités de chaque région, tradition et de leur évolution. Mais notre esprit rationnel est ainsi fait qu’il a besoin de construire des petits ensembles qu’il va ensuite mettre dans un plus grand ensemble, puis dans un grand tout. On a dû faire trop de géométrie à l’école! Et on arrive ainsi à des généralisations aberrantes sur LA musique africaine! Encore un cliché au même titre que ceux véhiculés sur l’Afrique qui se meurt, l’Afrique rongée par le SIDA, l’Afrique diabolisée… A voir et à écouter à ce propos l’excellente conférence de l’écrivaine nigériane Chimananda Ngozi Adichie.

Pour en revenir à la musique, il est clair que dans beaucoup de pays d’Afrique, il y a deux marchés, celui tenu par les producteurs locaux qui font de la musique pour le marché local et celui tenu par les Blancs qui font des CDs pour l’international. Ce qui semble assez logique puisque les auditeurs locaux vont accorder beaucoup plus d’importance aux paroles qu’à la musique. Les Occidentaux par contre (qui ne comprennent pas les paroles) s’intéressent plus à la musique qu’aux paroles. Même Youssou N’Dour et toute la structure qu’il a mis en place au Sénégal peine à diffuser ses enregistrements sur le marché international. Il est probable qu’il faille encore une génération pour que les producteurs africains arrive à diffuser sur les deux fronts. C’est d’ailleurs au sein des musiques les plus urbaines, comme le label Sheer Music, producteur de  DJ Mujava, que certains commencent à faire leur chemin.

Reste que le graal pour les artistes d’Afrique de l’Ouest en tous cas (c’est ceux que je connais le mieux)  est de décrocher un contrat avec un producteur occidental. C’est la garantie de gagner de l’argent en vendant ses disques chers (comparativement au pouvoir d’achat africain) et sans supporter le fléau de la piraterie. C’est une ouverture aussi vers des tournées bien rémunérées. Et à terme un établissement en Europe. Certains s’intéressent aux arrangements, au travail de production. D’autres s’en fichent complètement.

L’essentiel reste pourtant que la musique, comme la littérature, circule et qu’on s’extirpe  enfin des clichés sur la musique africaine. Qu’on arrête de se poser des graves questions. Du genre: cette musique africaine est-elle suffisamment roots? Grâce à des DJ, des rappers, mais aussi grâce aux musiques savantes, traditionnelles ou populaires, les musiques africaines montrent qu’elles sont multi-formes, comme partout dans le reste du monde.

Ouf, me voilà rassurée. Je peux donc savourer tranquillement le génial coffret de rééditions “African pearls 5 ” consacré à la Côte d’Ivoire,  me délecter du pré-CD de Bako Dagnon, la grande griotte malienne et aller voir les dernières nouvelles du  sound system Radioclit sur leur myspace. En toute bonne conscience.

Continue Reading

h/t Crooks and Liars

And if this doesn’t make you cry a bit, I don’t like you.

Another list. Just felt the urge I suppose. In no particular order, here are some African musicians whose stuff I can’t get enough of (in no particular order). Not exhaustive, not exclusive, not definitive. Just for a laugh.

• Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) – South African – Mama Africa, lived much of her working life in enforced exile from apartheid era SA. Was, for many, one of the voices of protest outside. Her voice has soul, soul, sweet soul. Somehow evokes a whole generation and era. Nuff said.
• Ayub Ogada (?- )- Kenyan – was given his epic En Mana Kuoyo some time before we moved to Uganda by bro-in-law Jez – but it is now firmly embedded in my mind as the soundtrack of Kampala evenings. Mellow and yet completely compelling, this is trad Luo music given a western mix. Just wonderful. You’ll recognise some of it if you’ve seen the film The Constant Gardener.
• Vusi Mahlasela (1965- ) – South African – has a unique and extraordinary voice and is wonderful guitarist in South African folk style. His voice just has it all – pierces the heart and captures the agony, fury, life, hope, joy and reality of Africa. Just listen to Song for Thandi, or the raw Africa is Dying; or more positive, Everytime. Also, check out his cover (with Josh Groban) of Weeping, and of U2’s Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.
• Johnny Clegg (1953- ) – South African & Zimbabwean (originally English, born in Rochdale bizarrely enough, but moved to Africa as a child) – he is known as the White Zulu, and formed the first racially mixed South African band in the late 70s. Often sings in Zulu, English and even French. Some great stuff – esp the popular Asimbonanga, and one of my favourites The Crossing.
• Youssou N’Dour (1959- ) – Senegalese – draws on all kinds of different musical heritages, but clearly rooted in trad Senegal folk music (called mbalax). Hugely popular globally, and justly so… He played key abolitionist Olaudah Equiano in the 2006 film Amazing Grace. Sometimes, his voice sometimes evokes Imam’s call to prayer, piercing and resounding above the band. Many will know his duet with Neneh Cherry, 7 Seconds – but check out Chimes of Freedom or the joy of Set and you’re transported to an African minibus taxi.
• Abdullah Ibrahim (1935- ) – South African – a jazz pianist, originally called Adolph Johannes Brand. Does big band stuff, and close-up stuff, all in all, a great and unique sound. As a random pick, I just love his District Six, evoking apartheid’s infamous clearing of Cape Town’s most vibrant community (see previous post) or the exuberance of African Marketplace.

Honourable Mentions: Soweto String Quartet (aka SSQ – exactly what it says on the tin, a string quartet formed by 3 brothers and a mate from Soweto – doing classical-pop-african crossover stuff) and Oumou Sangare (from Mali).

I’ve had the joy of seeing 4 out of these 8 acts live – true joy. But all of these folks have stuff on SPOTIFY (which you must use if you don’t already) – so check them out.

Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour

THE ARTIST WHOM ROLLING Stone Magazine has called “perhaps the most famous singer alive” is celebrating his fiftieth birthday today. Youssou N’Dour was born in Dakar, Senegal to pious Sufi Muslim parents on October 1, 1959. He got his start performing at local gatherings in the capital’s rough-and-tumble Medina area, sometimes playing pirate gigs on the parking lots outside Dakar night clubs. At age twelve he was already performing on stage and on radio with the popular Star Band. In 1979 N’Dour set up his own group, which he called Étoile de Dakar, the later Super Étoile, which soon became the best-known band in all of Africa.

N’Dour is a pioneer of Afrobeat and a genre of Senegalese music called Mbalax, which combines jazz, Latin, soul, rock, and traditional West African rhythms and is sung in Wolof. His unique version of African fusion also contains a vital spiritual element. N’Dour is descended from a long line of griots – the traditional Sufi bards of Western Africa – on his mother’s side of the family and he has made a lifelong study of Sufi music and literature. …

Continued…

WORD

anathema [uh-nath-uh-muh] n. 1. a person or thing detested or loathed: That subject is anathema to him 2. a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction 3. a formal ecclesiastical curse involving excommunication 4. any imprecation of divine punishment 5. a curse; execration

BIRTHDAY

Richard Stockton (1730), William Boeing (1881), Helio Gracie (1913), Walter Matthau (1920), Jimmy Carter (1924), William Rehnquist (1924), Roger Willams (1926), Tom Bosley (1927), George Peppard (1928), Richard Harris (1930), Julie Andrews (1935), Randy Quaid (1950), Youssou N’Dour (1959), Esai Morales (1962), Mark McGwire (1963), Christopher Titus (1966)

STANDPOINT

Short and sweet today. Listening to all you Philadelphia Eagles “fans” talk about Kevin Kolb and how unimpressed you were with his two starts makes me want to drown you.

The dude becomes the first QB ever to throw for over 300 yards in each of his first starts and, still, you’ve got negative shit to say.

In my humble opinion, you people are lucky to have any sports teams at all. You suck.

QUOTATION

I like when they bring a comedian on stage, they always tell you what else they do. But fuck, this is enough, isn’t it? He’s here tonight performing, because that is his job! But no, it’s gotta be, “He laid bricks in Philadelphia. And he repaired a car in Oklahoma. He has an umbrella store in Philadelphia. That’s the only city that comes to mind right now. Philadelphia, ’cause you can say “Philly” and the people from Philadelphia will not get mad. Like if you say “Frisco,” San Francisco people say, “Fuck off!” But if you say “Philly” they say, “Alright!” Because I don’t always have time to say “Philadelphia.” Sometimes I just need that word to be two syllables. Phil-a-del-phi-a. Fuck, five! Your town would be called Philly too if it had five syllables! ← Mitch Hedberg

(Note: While I think Mitch Hedberg’s stuff is supremely kind of funny at times, I disagree with the whole “Philly” thing. I’ve never liked it. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, how much longer does it take to actually pronounce “Philadelphia?” Maybe about .2 seconds? And, if you’re from here, how often do you really have to say the actual name of the city? ”Hey, next Tuesday, let’s meet in Northern Liberties. It’s a neighborhood in Philadelphia, where you and I both live. Just wanted to clarify.” For the record, if someone said that to me, I would stand them up. I can’t hang with that person.)  

TUNE

“Tim and Sam make music for the entrance foyer to heaven.” Those are the word of Megan Vaughan from manchestermusic.co.uk. She’s referring to Tim & Sam Band. And, possibly, Megan is right. Check out “Summer Solstice.”

GALLIMAUFRY

→ Man, things have gotten shitty for Washington Redskins fans. I can’t believe there are bids on this guy’s eBay offering. But, when your team loses to the Detroit Lions, there may be few other recourses.

→ For all the people out there who were worries, and I know that’s like almost all of you, my current health problems were due to an oversight in medications conflicting with one another. I’m fine now.

→ Earlier this week, I tried to explain my take on the problems with individual’s personal music tastes. And, I was wrong. Just a little. But I was mostly right. But Blender.com’s list of “The 50 Worst Artists in Music History” is more off than I was. Toad the Wet Sprocket? Spin Doctors? Blind Melon? The Doors? Crash Test Dummies? Oingo Boingo? Not the best bands in the world, but I’m betting this list was written by a bunch of people who attended college in the 1990s and spent every weekend watching everyone else go out and have fun while they sat around with their friend and argued about which reruns of The Simpsons to watch. Also, they probably argued about whether James T. Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard was the better captain of the USS Enterprise. Just so you know, it was Picard.

When I first wrote my notes on BiBi, I wrote, “The negligee flies out above her waist, revealing her toned black buttocks, thighs and lower belly.”

When I came to re-write the description, I realised that wouldn’t do. She’s not black.  I looked at the back of my mobile phone, which was lying on the table. That was black. My African brothers and sisters who have a deep skin tone are not that colour. So what colour is BiBi? That was fairly easy. I decided she was a deep brown skin tone. Or a rich brown skin tone.

When I came write up my description of Eve, that was much harder.

What colour is Eve? I share a similar skin type. I looked at some white paintwork in my kitchen and went and placed my arm next to it. No, I’m not white. Eve’s not white.

Later that evening I went out with a friend and asked, “What colour am I?” (I thought it was a fairly absurd question!)

“Do you know?” He replied, “I’ve often asked myself the same question!” We sat for a while looking at our arms. “Is it yellow? No, there is a bit of yellow, but no, it’s not yellow. Is it pink? No. Though there is some pink too. There’s even some blue.” (As Billy Connolly says, I’m Scottish. I’m not white. I’m blue. It takes me a week in the sun to go white!)

But I feel this is quite a serious point. For the following reason.

The mind works by association.

And we associate black with bad. When the financial markets have a downturn, the papers call it “Black Monday.” If you are the black sheep of the family, you don’t fit in. If you phone your friend and say, “How are you?” And your friend replies, “Oh, I’m in a black mood.” You’ll take that to mean a bad mood.

White, on the other hand, tends to denote something, not only good, but pure. White light. It suggests an angelic quality.

I believe this word association is contributing to racism. We see in many cultures and societies a lighter skin tone is considered preferable and superior.

Ok, we should be more intelligent than this and should be able to work this out.

In the meantime, I’ve come to the conclusion skin doesn’t have a colour. It’s not a colour, it’s a tone.

And if you insist on applying a colour, we are all tones of brown.

Seven Seconds. Neneh Cherry & Youssou N'Dour. On YouTube. Click on image to view.

As the song says:

“And when a child

Is born into this world

It has no concept

Of the tone of skin

It’s living in.

And there’s a million voices.

And there’s million voices

Telling you

What you should be thinking

So you’d better sober up

For just a second.”

♥Ali.