Omar Pène’s new album

Moom tamit

Dakar 

22/02/2008 - 

Following the success of his acoustic album, Myamba, in 2005, Omar Pène hit the road on an extensive international tour. Then he was involved in lengthy celebrations for the 30th anniversary of his group, Super Diamono. But the Senegalese star finally found time to return to the studio and his new album, Moom tamit, was released at the end of 2007. This new album finds Pène voicing his commitment to pan-Africanism and inviting a number of his young compatriots, including rapper Didier Awadi, to join him at the microphone. RFI Musique talks to Monsieur Super Diamono about his latest musical offering.

RFI Musique: You’ve just released a new album...
Omar Pène: That’s right. It came out on December 19th (2007) and it’s called Moom tamit which means "She too." The ’she’ in question is Khadija. I sing, "She too, is called Khadija. She has just been born. She is nine months old." Through the story of this child I’m paying tribute to the wife of our great Muslim prophet (Muhammad). Khadija’s not my daughter, you know! (Laughs)

Your last album, Myamba, was a purely acoustic affair which went down extremely well on the international scene. But Moom tamit has a very different sound. Why such a big difference between the two albums?
It’s true, the acoustic vibe on Myamba was much more aimed at international audiences. The album went down so well abroad, in fact, that we spent the last three years touring worldwide. But the thing is, when you play in Senegal there’s a very different dynamic. Myamba was a lot more rhythm-based. But when we’re in Senegal, we’re called upon to play at big dance nights. When we play concerts at home it’s to get people up on their feet dancing. So it’s only natural that the songs on the new album should sound a bit different from those on Myamba.

But at the same time your new album’s not pure mbalax, is it?
Mbalax has sort of fallen into disrepute in Senegal these days. The way we see it in Super Diamono is mbalax is just another rhythm played by a particular instrument, the sabar. It’s a metronome. What we’re trying to do with Super Diamono is play music people can listen to and dance to as well. We deliberately don’t make it very rhythmic, that’s the Diamono touch. As a band our influences are more jazz, funk and reggae. That’s the only kind of music we listened to when we first started playing together all those years ago. And our influences have remained with us over the years. Our music is aimed at getting people up on their feet, but there are songs that require them to listen too!

Talking of songs that require people to sit up and take notice, what message are you trying to get across on Moom tamit?
Well, there’s a song about child soldiers and another song about the United States of Africa. It’s callled  Meuna nee (which means "its possible" in Wolof). I really believe we can create the U.S. of Africa. There’s another track about the sidewalk vendors in Dakar (Ed.: In mid-November 2007 the authorities ordered all street vendors off the roadside in Dakar, claiming that their stalls were a nuisance to traffic. The vendors launched a violent protest against this decision and eventually won the right to set their stalls up at the roadside again).
It’s outrageous! On the one hand, you’ve got all these people risking their lives, jumping into dugout canoes and trying to sail to Europe. And on the other, you’re creating problems for their compatriots who ask nothing more than to stay at home and make a living selling their wares. Instead of throwing them off the streets, we should be encouraging them - because if we don’t they’re going to find a boat and take to the ocean, too. It’s a disgrace for me personally and for the whole of Africa!

Illegal immigration seems to be a theme that comes up in your songs time and time again…
Yes, it does. I did a song called Emigration five or six years ago now. I could see this situation coming, but I never dreamt it would be on the scale it is now. When, five or six years ago, I’d talk to young people about the future, I realised there was one thought in all their minds – they all wanted to leave! And I remember thinking to myself at the time that the day this issue blew up, it was going to be very serious indeed. But even though I was aware of the situation I didn’t foresee all these young people risking their lives on the seas in dug-out canoes. That proves just how desperate they are. For them it’s "Barça ou barsakh" - Barcelona or die!
I recorded Emigration as a sort of wake-up call to government leaders, warning them what was in store. I wanted the decision-makers to listen to what I was saying, but sadly they didn’t. And we’ve all seen the result now!

To come back to your new album for a moment. You invited a couple of young hip-hop artists to guest on Moom tamit. Why was that?
Well, I’ve actually done quite a few things with rappers in the past, you know, working with people like Fata, Big D. and Duggy-Tee. This time round, it was Didier Awadi who accepted my invitation. I felt like he had the right profile for the job. After all, this is an album about the United States of Africa and that’s a theme Didier Awadi has raised in his own work…
The other guest star is a young slam artist called Khadim Guèye. I’m an official patron of Tundu Dior, a project (run by the NGO Plan International) which helps young street kids. As part of my work, I go round doing concerts raising people’s awareness about issues such as female circumcision, under-age brides and the plight of the talibés, the beggar kids who spend all day on the streets instead of going to school... I’d already done the song Enfant-soldat (Child soldier) for the project. But this time round I thought why not let a youngster from Tundu Dior express himself? So I picked up the phone and got hold of Khadim.

A lot of Senegalese artists release albums on the local market and then record international versions for non-Senegalese audiences. Are you planning to do an international version of Moom tamit?
Moom tamit is an international album! The music we play on it can quite easily be listened to in Europe.

Where and when can fans get to see you live on stage?
Well, right now, we’re in the middle of doing all the promotional stuff for the new album. But we are working on an upcoming tour. Actually, we had wanted to get out on the road in February, but there was the CAN (the African Cup of Nations, held in Ghana until 10 February). Everyone had their eyes riveted on the football all the time. But we’re raring to go now and ready to kick off our tour in March. We’ll be playing concerts right across Senegal.

And what about international dates?
We don’t have any international dates arranged as yet. Ousmane (Ed.: Omar’s manager, Ousmane Faye) is working on it as we speak. But one thing’s for sure and that is that in the first week of March, we’ll be out on the road kicking off our tour!

Omar Pène Moom tamit (Diamono Production) 2007

Coumba  Sylla