N'Dour a troubadour of the exotic

By FREDERICO MONSALVE

To put the words Youssou and West Africa in the same sentence is excessive if not repetitive. To put N'Dour and poetry in the same paragraph is blatantly redundant.

It is not to say that Senegal's musical superstar Youssou N'Dour devotes himself to the literary. He rarely does. But this 44-year-old is most comfortable weaving an exotic musical language, a collage of images and history and a fleeting herd of percussion-driven troubadours at the turn of every note.

For N'Dour, a self-confessed internationalist who took to makeshift clandestine stages at the age of 12, even his European arrival at super-stardom had a curious tinge of migrant cinematic poetry to it.

"A Senegalese association of taxi drivers in Paris used to listen to my music while working around the city. They decided to book me concerts," says a jetlagged N'Dour as he takes a break before a concert in Queensland.

At one concert he met Peter Gabriel who invited him for a drink and asked N'Dour to sing with him and later to open for one of his tours.

N'Dour, who was named "African Artist of the Century" four years ago by the British magazine Folk Roots, has made mbalax music famous after more than twenty years of recording and touring with his band, the Super Etoile.

"Mbalax is a language, a way of living. It's a certain attitude coming from the people of Senegal," he says. "In my records I use traditional instruments like the kora [21-stringed harp], the xalam [five-stringed lute] and riti [single-stringed violin] but in less traditional ways."

Lyrically, his mother's side of the family have been an invaluable influence. They follow the tradition known as griot, or storytelling.

Since his early records in the late 70s he retains a troubadour-like attitude to the problems facing West African youth. "My song Set caused youth in Dakar's ghettos to organise themselves to clean graffiti and rubbish from the streets."

Musically he mixes Senegalese rhythms with jazz, rock and Caribbean (with some emphasis on the Afro-Cuban) beats. At his most melancholy, N'Dour delves into string compositions that could easily pass as belonging to a pupil of Shostakovich.

His departure from strictly classical Senegalese in favour of a more Western-friendly sound has caused a few purists to cringe at the Ry Cooder-like phenomena (non-English language musicians needing an established Western mentor).

N'Dour is self-effacing and believes World Music is an ambiguous yet necessary term.

"World Music nowadays is not just defining non-Anglo sounds, it's about joining influences from different cultures, it is about meeting people from around the globe."

Nothing's in Vain, N'Dour's latest album, is an ethereal tour through cosmopolitan influences. The songs range from the quintessentially Parisian Il Ny A Pas D'Amour Hereux (There is no Happy Love, an Edith Piaf-sounding adaptation of a Louis Aragon 1940s poem) through the sappiness of So Many Men with French vocalist Pascal Obispo.

N'Dour is at his best when he rummages through the raspy bass scales of his voice and envelops his lyrics with traditional instruments played in a contemporary way. In songs like Moor Ndaje, N'Dour does for Senegal what Carlos Vives did for South American vallenato: repackaged it, gave it a more universal accent and although sometimes overly sanitised, more often than not incredibly original.

"Music must be about communicating with other cultures," he says. "Learning from what they have learned and teaching a bit of our own."

Connectivity and globalisation are re-occurring themes for the Senegalese. Both his music and his efforts as a philanthropist are fuelled by a desire to be outward looking.

"I am on the second phase of a project called "Joko" [which means link or connection in Wolof] which puts computers in poor neighbourhoods in Senegal. It's about reducing the [digital] gap for West Africans, even if they live in small villages, it is really important people understand the world around them."

N'Dour and the Super Etoile, are based in the recently shut down Thiossane club, N'Dour's legendary tourist mecca in the heart of Dakar.

"Authorities are getting tough on places where a lot of people congregate and my club was closed for safety reasons. We expect it to be back in business in about a month or so."

But it seems N'Dour has never really been out of business.

He continues to run Jololi - the label that launched the smaller constellation that is Cheikh Lo - a newspaper, a radio station and a series of charitable projects that include being a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

N'Dour is the African Bono (with whom he has collaborated for debt relief for Africa). If Cuban music defied an American trade embargo thanks to Ry Cooder, it is safe to say West African music is defying seclusion and stagnation thanks to Youssou N'Dour.

Performance

* Who: Youssou N'Dour

* Where: Town Hall, tonight (doors open 7.30pm)