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Daby Balde: a different side to Senegal
The rising new star from Casamance
Paris
16/10/2009 -
Daby Balde: What I'm really trying to do with my new album is make people aware of the different customs and cultures in Senegal. European audiences are familiar with 'mbalax', but we represent a different take on Senegalese music. I'm from Casamance (in south-western Senegal) and what we listen to there are traditional chants based on the pentatonic scale, essentially a sort of blues. It's very different from what people listen to up north. I try to weave a lot of different elements into my music so that people from different ethnic groups can identify with it, whether they come from Mali, Nigeria or Burkina Faso... I'm interested in creating a fusion sound. My aim is to be recognised as an African artist, not just a Senegalese musician. Touré Kunda were the first group to put Casamance on the music map and now I'm ready to do my bit, too!
Did you release anything locally before breaking onto the international scene in 2005 with your album Introducing Daby Balde?
My music originally came out in cassette form in Senegal. Then a CD, which was basically a combination of my first two cassettes, was released on the local market. After that, my first official album - Introducing Daby Balde - was released on the World Music Network. We added a few bonus tracks to that which were specially re-recorded in the studio. I felt as though I had to carve out a place for myself on the Senegalese music scene before trying to take my music further afield. It's like fishing - you've got to put a tasty bit of bait on your hook before you can reel anything in! I had to fight long and hard to make a name for myself in Senegal, though, because my compatriots aren't used to my style. When I first started out some people actually thought I was Malian!
Does music run in your family?
No, not at all. Normally in Senegal musicians come from the 'griot' caste, but my family are Fula. That didn't stop me from launching a career as a musician in 1992. Before I became a musician I worked as a taxi driver. I never drove a taxi in Paris, but that was my job in Casamance, in Dakar and before that in Gambia. That's where it all started for me. I initially went out to Gambia to try my luck because things weren't working out the way I wanted in Senegal. Before that, I spent six months in Guinea Conakry but that didn't work out so well, either, so I went home, packed my bags again and then left for Gambia where I got a lucky break. I made a good living in Gambia, earning around 300 dalasi a month and I was able to buy my first guitar. What's more, I had the time to sit down and figure out how to write songs. One thing I learnt was that if you don't have the words, you can't go much further!
Can you remember the first song you ever wrote?
I spent seven years in Gambia without going home to Senegal so it's not surprising that the first song I wrote was very nostalgic. It was a cry from the heart and it was inspired by Bob Marley's Redemption Song. Marley represents so much for me. He was one of my role models and I still think it's extraordinary what he contributed to modern music.
I went home in December 1994 following Yahya Jammeh's coup in Gambia. I spent the first nine months in my home village, Kolda, where I played with the regional orchestra. Then, on 11 August 1995, I went to Dakar because that was where it was all happening. I went to Dakar to try and get myself noticed by promoters and I spent the next six years there struggling away before I finally got to make my first album. It was a tough time for me because I didn't have any contacts and I was playing a totally new sound that "consumers" didn't want. Producers told me that they liked my music and that I had a good voice but they couldn't sell that sort of thing in Senegal. But I kept on fighting until the day I met a French producer, Florent Disccaciati, who helped me get my first album out.
Are the songs on your new album all recent works or have you delved into your back catalogue, using songs international audiences haven't heard before?
You know, there's this 61-year-old guy who's acted as a personal advisor to me over the years and he's always told me "reworking old stuff is a form of laziness." I'm still young and that means I can write new material. When I get older and start getting a bit tired then I can turn to the past and embellish the old stuff. All the songs on Le Marigot Club Dakar are brand new compositions, apart from Lale Kouma. That's a popular folk song from Casamance which people sing at circumcision ceremonies. It goes out to all the young people from my region who've lost touch with their cultural heritage. This is me saying "Listen, get back in touch with your roots, this is the sound of Casamance!"
Lale Kouma
Bertrand Lavaine
Translation : Julie Street
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