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Omar Pène's "Triumph"
An African take on the accordion
Paris
30/10/2009 -
Omar Pène: Moom Tamit was a much more rhythm-centric album but don't forget that before that I made another album, Myamba, on which I took an entirely acoustic approach. I'd say that my new album, Ndam, is more open. Besides working with two Senegalese percussionists, I collaborated with French musicians Thierry Garcia and Alain Genty who added a very different feel to my music. This album is a mix of musical colours, an invitation to travel.
And it marks a return to an acoustic sound for you…
Yes, but whereas Myamba was 100% acoustic Ndam involves a lot more experimentation. We worked with instruments that I've never used in my music before - such as the accordion - and that automatically gave things a different flavour. I think the particular atmosphere of this album comes from the fact that I went into the studio and simply laid down my vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar. Once I'd finished the songs, I headed back to Dakar and left the French musicians to work around my voice. That left them free to embellish my vocals according to their own musical sensibility. They obviously felt an empathy with my songs even though they didn't understand every word. Before we worked together I sat down and explained the meaning of my songs and they imagined the melodies. I must say I was pleasantly surprised when they first sent me what they'd done. By the time they were around 30% of the way through I could see what direction they were heading in… And by the end of our collaboration I knew we'd really understood one another. We'd communicated through the magic of music!
But I haven't abandoned the kora for the accordion! What happened was someone suggested using the accordion on the album and I thought "OK, why not?" I'd originally thought about bringing in a violin, but the musicians preferred the sound of the accordion… And when I listened to it myself I was hooked! This will be a real discovery for my Senegalese fans. They've certainly never heard anything like this in an Omar Pène song before! The way I see it, music is all about broadening your horizons and learning from others. I've never wanted to limit myself to Senegalese 'mbalax.' I've always wanted to reach out and experiment with different things.
Ndam certainly finds you experimenting musically, but it also marks a return to your favourite songwriting themes: women, children and the problem of clandestine immigration…
My songs are about the problems people suffer, especially in Africa, and I try to cover a broad range of subjects singing about everything from power cuts and floods to the problem of Africans emigrating abroad… Everything young Africans go through today stems from the fact that Africa is extremely poor. But I'm not just singing about the down side of things in my songs. I also talk about possible solutions. I sing about the idea of working towards a United States of Africa, a world where Africans could grow stronger by bonding together. Here we are all living in these little micro-states all just as poor as each other. I want to raise Africans' consciousness, make them aware of how much stronger we could be if we came together… It's been fifty years since we won our independence and we're still as poor as ever. That means we Africans have to wake up and start looking for other solutions. The people are sovereign now and it's the people who could decide to work towards some sort of union. OK, I know it's not something that's going to happen overnight. But we can start paving the way towards African union in the future. That way maybe our grandchildren can enjoy a better life one day!
I believe in never giving up and never giving in. I know the path I've chosen in life is a difficult one. It would obviously be a lot easier to earn a living singing praise songs for rich people. But I've chosen to do things the hard way and that's what I'm committed to now. Why did I become a singer? Because I feel I've got something to say. And I feel that I am getting my voice heard today so I'm not going to give up now… As long as there's breath in my body I'll use my voice to speak out and say what I think!
I believe your group, Le Super Diamono, are about to celebrate their 35th anniversary?
Yes, too right, we are! We're planning a big celebration in December for our fans. I think they need it! We're going to organise a whole series of events where our fans can go wild. This is going to be their party!
I think you're going to sing us out with an 'a cappella' track from your new album, so I'll ask everyone at home to imagine the accordion in the background…
I'm going to do the title track, Ndam… (laughs) unfortunately I don't have an accordion with me right now!
Ndam
Marie-Laure Josselin
Translation : Julie Street
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