RFI Musique - - Senegal - Didier Awadi, rap's free thinker

Didier Awadi, rap's free thinker

New album aimed at Europe

Paris

22/04/2009 -

Didier Awadi, one of the pioneers of Africa's hip-hop movement with the group Positive Black Soul, is still going strong over 20 years after his debut. The Senegalese rapper, who won RFI's World Music Award in 2003, has developed a militant reputation thanks to his hardhitting songs and his outspoken political views. Awadi's latest European release is no exception to that rule, featuring plenty of material from Sunugaal (his last African opus) as well as a handful of previously unreleased bonus tracks.

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Didier Awadi's lyrics, hammered home in a mixture of Wolof and French, carry a powerful social and political message, a message that is increasingly being picked up on by large swathes of African youth who feel abandoned and betrayed by the political elite. And Awadi is in no doubt about the purpose of his work. "Music is really an alibi for me," he says, "It's never just simple entertainment. I believe music should make people sit up and think. It should provide them with vital information about AIDS and other issues that directly concern them. I believe everything I do should be of some use."

Awadi, who is actively involved in anti-globalisation networks and associations defending African children's rights, has also been a vociferous campaigner against economic partnership agreements between the European Union and the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific) states. He even went so far as to record a protest song on the subject: On ne signe pas (We won't sign) with Bouba Kirikou.

Fairer trade

In 2003, Awadi released a Utopian album entitled Un autre monde est possible (Another world is possible) in Africa. A few months later, the album was released worldwide. However, despite being signed to a major label (Sony), the album was distributed by a small independent structure in Europe and never gained the recognition it deserved. Worse, Awadi's last album, Sunugaal, released in Africa last year, never even made it across the Mediterranean. "That's why I've decided to try and bounce back with more of a varied album this time," the rapper declares, explaining that this time round French distribution is being handled by ULM (a label in the Universal stable).

Questioned as to whether he acknowledges any contradiction between his anti-globalisation stance and his collaboration with a multinational, Awadi insists that "So long as I retain complete artistic freedom over my work and the record company doesn't intervene in this domain, I don't see any problem. I'm not afraid of the market or the way the market works. I'd just like the market to be a fairer place."

Getting the message across

For Awadi the dilemma is not whether he should work with a major label, but whether he is capable of getting his message heard in Europe at all. "Sure, I can take the risk of not existing over here," he says, "but if I don't exist who'll be around to stir up debate and voice the African point of view? Who'll explain that all these young Senegalese people - all these young Africans - leaping into makeshift boats or desperately clinging to the undercarriage of planes are driven to it because of the choices their governments make? Who'll explain that these young people can no longer survive - and I'm talking about surviving, not living - back in their own countries? Who'll be there to repudiate claims that France and Europe cannot take in all the world's poor, to point out that France and Europe bear their share of responsibility for world poverty in the first place? Who'll be there to point out that the reason Senegalese fishermen don't have enough fish in their nets is because European boats come and poach in our territory and no-one stops them? Who'll stand up and say that our countries have been impoverished by Europe with the complicity of our own political elite? Who'll proclaim that Africans are victims of racism, that we have just as much right to travel as anyone else? Who's going to stand there and spell all that out?"

Diatribe over, Awadi takes a deep breath and admits that "Obviously, my line of argument hasn't gone down well with the authorities back home. But I get positive feedback at a grassroots level and some people have started to look to me as a spokesman. That's a role I never aimed for in life… I'm more of a free thinker, someone who needs to say things and get them off my chest. I need to express my anger as well as share my joy with people - because that's what music is above all else, it's moments of life!" And the Senegalese rapper intends to share some very intense moments with his audiences this summer when he performs on the festival circuit in Europe.