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Naby, a new voice from Senegal
Music, a passion and a vocation
Paris
11/11/2009 -
Calling Naby a live wire would be a complete understatement. And the Senegalese singer does not confine his electrically-charged antics to the stage, either, leaping up mid-interview to strum his guitar, chat to a member of his backing band and play with a passing child. What's more, Naby performs all of his actions flashing his famous broad-toothed grin that has lit up audiences wherever he plays.
Naby sounds like a stage name but it is, in fact, the name that was officially registered at his birth in Dakar on 8 March 1976. Naby Ibrahima Condé was born in Dakar but grew up in Mbour, a popular seaside resort some 80 kilometres from the Senegalese capital. His Guinean-born father was a school teacher and his Malian-born mother a head mistress. Of the couple's three sons and three daughters only Naby went on to choose a music career.
Naby grew up in what he describes as a musical and cultural "melting pot", sneaking into his brothers' bedroom from an early age to listen to their record collection. The budding musician, described by his teachers as "a cheeky boy who loved to tease", would sit there, knees tucked up on the bed, belting out his favourite Tracy Chapman songs without understanding a word of the American singer's lyrics.
Naby went on to discover the sound of Senegal, soaking up the music of Super Diamono, Youssou N'dour and Thione Seck. "I was born into sabar*" he says, "born into mbalax." The vibrant salsa rhythms of the legendary Orchestra Baobab also punctuated his childhood. "I listened to a real mix of stuff," Naby explains, a mix that has inevitably woven its way into his own eclectic fusion of folk, reggae, soul and R&B today. Naby claims that his first audience was his mother, admitting that "I first cottoned on to the power of music when was a kid. I'd get round my mother after I'd been really naughty by singing "Maman, prépare moi du poulet roté, un roux roti"… ."
Debut album
Naby pursued his studies up to BFEM level but admits that "school was never really my thing." He left Mbour to attend a technical college in Dakar where he trained as a motor mechanic. But after three months with his head stuck inside car bonnets all he learnt was that he loved driving but hated getting his hands dirty. The failed mechanic returned to Mbour with music still running around his brain. In 1996, he teamed up with Ely - "someone I really respect" - to form the group Peace & Peace. The duo recorded a debut album together, Diam ak Diam, but eventually split "because we weren't on the same wavelength."
At the age of 22 Naby decided the time had come to set out in search of his roots. Travelling on a restricted budget, the young musician made his way to Mali and then on to Guinea. Here, he ended up driving 700km into the forest to find the village where his father was born. It was at this point, claims Naby, that he discovered "I had something to say." On his return home, Abdourahmane Wane - aka Countryman - one of Senegal's leading reggae pioneers stepped in to help Naby with songwriting and Guillaume Garcia took over as his manager. Naby went on to release a debut solo album Dem naa at the end of 2008, "meeting a lot of people and playing a lot of venues and festivals in the interim."
Every Friday night, the new voice of Senegal performed at La Villa Krystal, a fashionable bar-restaurant in Dakar. Married with a child at the age of 33, Naby claims he'd "stopped messing around" by this point. What he actually means is that he had elevated messing around to a fine art, hiding his natural shyness behind jokes and easy banter with his audience live on stage.
Stage presence
Naby exudes amazing charisma live on stage, his natty dreads bouncing in time with his feet. The Senegalese singer, who says he loves being surrounded by friends and family at all times, is a generous performer willing to share his microphone with up-and-coming acts or anyone in the audience with a good voice. Naby, an artist who "sings from his guts" performs songs about love, friendship and the betrayal of trust. His "slightly crazy" dream is to record an album in every country in the world, singing in local languages. This way, he claims, he could achieve his mission in life, getting his message across to the whole world.
Naby is modest about having made it through to the finals of RFI's "Découvertes" award, declaring that it is not he personally who has been nominated but "a child of Senegal." Naby has certainly come a long way in the past 33 years, surprising himself as much as his family. "The first time I told my father I wanted to be a singer," he recalls, "my father turned round and said 'But you can't, you're rubbish!'" Naby was 21 at the time and his father's friends all tried to persuade him to go along and see his son in concert. But Condé senior refused, claiming his son was "a joker." "Then one day my father was sitting in front of his TV and I came on," Naby laughs, "He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. Apparently he had tears in his eyes. When I went home that night he said, 'Son, you have my blessing.'" Naby pauses for a moment and then flashes his broad-toothed grin, "That was all I needed!"
*Sabar is a festive dance style accompanied by the beat of tom-tom drums
Marie-Laure Josselin
Translation : Julie Street
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