Wasis diop's original scores

The senegalese musician is presenting 3 original scores in 2004

Paris 

12/05/2004 - 

Wasis Diop has chosen to express himself in the film world in different ways. The Senegalese musician has occasionally appeared on the silver screen as an actor, but he is best known for his film soundtracks. Diop has composed the music for a dozen films to date, including the soundtrack to Le Sifflet (As Thiam's short presented on the Cannes market this year). Throughout the Cannes Film Festival, special listening posts have been set up along the Croisette, allowing festival-goers to listen to Wasis Diop's music alongside that of other great film composers such as Lalo Schifrin, Joe Hisaishi and Maurice Jarre.

Before enjoying a successful music career, Wasis Diop made his debut in the film world as an actor, starring in the film Badou Boy in 1970. This was one of the first films made by his director brother, Djibril Diop Mambéty. Wasis went on to put in occasional film appearances over the years, starring in Ben Diogaye Beye's film Les princes noirs de Saint Germain des Prés (1975), Mama Keita's Le onzième commandement (1998) and Myriam Mézières's Fleurs de sang (2002).

In 1992 Wasis composed the music for another of his brother's films, Hyènes (or Ramatou, in its original Wolof title). The film went on to become an African cinema classic. Over the following years, Wasis found himself in great demand and, while continuing to compose musical accompaniment for films such as TGV, la Petite vendeuse de soleil, Ndeysaan-Le prix du pardon and Djogo-Les couilles de l'éléphant, he also wrote music for numerous television films and documentaries.

This year the MK2 cinema in the "Grande Bibliothèque de Paris" decided to honour the African star, inviting him to play the soundtrack to Hyènes live in front of an audience. (MK2 is also responsible for the interactive listening posts set up along the Croisette at the Cannes Film Festival this year).

Wasis is currently hard at work on various new projects, completing the soundtrack for Ben Diogaye Beye's forthcoming film Amours d'enfants and the music for Sylvestre Amoussou's feature film, Africa Paradise. We hooked up with the Senegalese star for a quick interview, exploring the links between music and image in his work.

RFI Musique: Why do you feel the need to compose film music as well as recording your own albums? And what differences have you found between the two?

Well, I've set myself up as the first African composer of film music. And I think I'm certainly the first, in any case, to take such a cinematographic approach to composing. Composing film music is radically different to songwriting – you have to capture emotion and reality in your music and be able to tap into the vision being put across in the film. Writing film music gives you an incredibly rare sense of freedom, something you can't even dream of when you're limited to a format of 3 and a half minutes for a song. Film music allows you to go much, much further than you'd ever dare go making an album. Film gives you the chance to explore the world, explore vision, colours and emotion. Film music is a million miles away from making an album!

I started out writing music working alongside my brother, Djibril, so my songs have always been very influenced by the visual aspect of things. Spending so much time on film sets and scouting for locations, then commenting on the rushes and analysing camera angles grew to be a bit of a professional deformation for me. And as a result, my songs are like sweeping panoramic shots. That's why people come to me for film music, because there's something very cinematographic, very visual, in my songs.

How do you come to choose the projects you get involved with?
Of all the African films I've worked on, there are two that are very close to my heart. Both films took a very cinematographic approach and music played an essential role in them. Those films are Hyènes and TGV. There have been times where I've come on board a film project just to help out, you know. Music can actually save a film. There are often problems with African productions like bad editing and moments when you can really see the lack of funding. Then there are problems with some directors getting the wrong idea about film music – sometimes they just want to use the music they like, like reggae, for instance. But the music has to stand apart and be different, if not it'll end up overwhelming the film and rendering the message banal.

Do you think African composers are sufficiently recognised in the film world? Well, one of my songs (Everything …Is Never Quite Enough) was used in the Hollywood movie The Thomas Crown Affair. In the film, starring Pierce Brosnan, they recreated the legendary scene from the original where Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway are pitted against each other in a game of chess. It's a really important scene in the film and they chose to use African music in it. That just goes to show how universal our sensibilities and our way of seeing the world and accompanying it in music is. Our understanding of melody and harmony is perfectly adapted to today's world. You know, over in the U.S. when they're looking for something they turn around and take the person that has that something. That's what I like about America, from a creative point of view, in any case.

Are there any French directors you'd particularly like to work with?
One of my songs was used in André Téchiné's film Alice et Martin. But I think, in general, French films have lost something in the tonality of actors' voices. I love those old black and white movies starring Gabin and Jouvet and guys like that. I'm blown away by the musical quality of their voices and it's a shame because these days they've either retired or moved into a different sphere. You can sit back, close your eyes and listen to those dialogues and you're just blown away by the amazing musical sound to it all. I'd loved to have lived back then and had the chance to write film music for those kind of actors. I remember this press conference Orson Welles gave once – I'd just arrived in Paris at the time – and he said when he was auditioning actors he always did it with his eyes shut. He was more interested in finding the right tone of voice than the right physique. It's a shame, these days people don't really listen to actors' voices any more, or pay attention to the way certain lines are delivered.

Is having your music at Cannes a form of recognition for you?
Cannes holds such a legendary place in the film world! The festival's attracting increasing attendance from Africa and film music is very much recognised in its own right in Cannes. In recent years there have been tributes to great film music composers like Enio Morricone and John Williams and I think it's great that the festival's opening up to African music now. The fact that an innovative company like MK2 is now supporting African film music in a different way is wonderful. It's really helped show a different facet of Africa, revealing its film music to the world!

Jean-François  Danis