Youssou N'Dour

Youssou Conquers New York

New York 

16/04/2002 - 

Africa came to Manhattan with all its trimmings this weekend as the Senegalese king of world music Youssou N'Dour took New York by storm. Youssou's four wild all-nighters, which included two intimate "acoustic" gigs at Joe's Pub, attracted a huge turnout from New York's African community as well as thousands of friends and supporters who came to party at "Le Grand Bal Africain."

Fans of every colour, every religion, every creed, flocked from every New York neighbourhood to greet the Senegalese music king. "A blast!" promised music fans, "a sign!" predicted others – one thing's for sure, Youssou's arrival in the Big Apple left no-one indifferent!. Arranging a "Grand Bal Africain" in downtown Manhattan had been Youssou's own idea and, as the Senegalese star had proved himself an excellent organiser of this event in other cities over the past three years, New Yorkers could only hold their breath in eager anticipation.

Youssou began his warm-up to the "Bal" with two mini-concerts at Joe's Pub, an intimate venue just a block away from Astor Place in the "Village", the heart of this throbbing, pulsating city where anything that's anything goes down - and where novices turn into music purists overnight! Youssou, the one and only king of Senegalese mbalax, brought the house down at Joe's at the end of last week, with two "acoustic" concerts that delighted fans and Joe's regulars who happened to be sitting at the bar by chance. But the event that New York's African community had been waiting for with bated breath was the "Grand Bal" scheduled at the Manhattan Center at the weekend. This gigantic New York theatre, with its three capacious balconies, was filled to capacity on Saturday and Sunday night as over 7,000 music fans piled into the venue to see Senegal's main man. 

DJs, boubous and braids

A series of DJs took to the stage pre-show warming up the crowd with a mix of Marley, Khaled and other Afro delights – but, frankly, Youssou's audience needed little encouragement, they were geared up, dressed up and ready to roll! Gorgeous African beauties moved through the crowd in brightly-coloured boubous, their hair woven into every imaginable form of twists, plaits and braids, their bodies decorated with layer upon layer of scarves, bracelets and beads. Standing there swaying their generous hips, they looked like they couldn't wait for the show to begin!

The African males in the audience were no less elaborately dressed. True, their suits were of a less eye-grabbing hue than their female companions', but their shoes gleamed under the spotlights and their patterned shirts and tinted sunglasses had been chosen with the utmost care. Despite the impressive turn-out, which found the "VIP" corner as full as the rest of the house, Youssou's "Bal" was definitely a family affair – no heavy-duty security in front of the artist's dressing room nor around the main stage. Youssou's manager Thomas Rome was to be found pacing up and down the corridor seeing to everyone's needs while his wife, Florence, greeted guests and the press. Rome could be heard loudly sighing though as he assured everyone that "Yes, of course, Youssou's going to sing – but God only knows what time we'll start !".

Let the show begin !

That turned out to be the understatement of the evening, in fact. But when in got to 11.30pm I appeared to be the only member of the audience watching the clock. Everyone else around me was dancing and swaying and getting into the groove when finally a voice came over the loudspeaker asking "Are you ready? Are you REALLY ready?" "YOUSSOU est dans la salle!" Youssou made what is known in the trade as an Entrance, greeted by a mass of waving arms, screaming mouths and hips swaying furiously and sexily enough to make American's puritan fraternity shudder and blush in shame. Curiously enough, everyone appeared to have forgotten they were in America at all by that point. With the smell of chicken mafé and other African dishes wafting through the air from the buffet tables set up against one wall of the stage, you could have been forgiven for thinking yourself in the midst of a traditional Senegalese market.

Youssou and his group Le Super Etoile proved to be on top form as they got the crowd grooving to a mix of vibrant African rhythms and the mbalax king's distinctive vocals rang out across the theatre until the morning hours. When the percussionists finally laid down their sticks at 4am the audience burst into thundering rounds of applause and it was smiles all round as the colourful African contingent trooped from the room. Youssou's "Grand Bal" proved to be a lesson in love and open-armed hospitality – and in a city still reeling from recent catastrophe, nothing could have been more welcome than that!

 

Myriem  Wong