RFI Musique - - Senegal, the transatlantic connection

Senegal, the transatlantic connection

Cuban and jazz influences

Paris

07/04/2010 -

What do Dakar, Havana and New York have in common ? Musically, more than you might think. While Senegal was gearing up to celebrate its independence in 1960, the country’s musicians were seeking to liberate themselves from French influence through the jazz and salsa that was at that time filtering across the Atlantic.

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As in many other places on the African continent, the famous GV series of 78 rpm records released from 1933 to 1958 had a decisive impact on the development of local music. Released by the British record company His Master’s Voice (with its immediately recognisable logo), these 250 recordings were cheaply pressed for the African market, with the aim of developing local demand and building new openings for the record industry.

Most of the records were of Cuban music, which was very much in fashion in New York at the time. The success of the GV records exceeded all expectations, and certain tracks, such as El Maniser, became classics right across the continent, from Dar Es-Salaam to Dakar and Leopoldville.

Suddenly, music had reminded people that despite separation on either side of the Atlantic due to slavery, unexpected cultural links had after all survived. This sentiment was widespread across certain parts of Africa and contributed to the rise of Congolese rumba and its popularity across the continent.

Jazz bands

In Senegal, there were other factors which meant music developed along different lines than the Afro-Cuban genre. American soldiers were stationed in Dakar, Thiès and Saint-Louis during the Second World War from 1942, and their presence opened new horizons.

Jazz was broadcast by the Voice of America, and became the genre of choice for many groups forming in the 1950s. It was at this time that the first professional groups with their own instruments were appearing, with names like the Sor Jazz Band, the Saint-Louisien Jazz Band, or the Amicale Jazz Band.

The phenomenon was mostly an urban one. But the musical scene in general – which until then had largely consisted of a few officially-sponsored groups like La Lyre Africaine in Dakar – developed quickly under this new influence.

Formed in 1951 by the saxophonist Oumar Ndiaye, the group Les Déménageurs made the innovative move of embarking on a long African tour with a vast repertoire that included jazz, tango and Ghanaian highlife. In the southern region of Casamance, the Ucas Jazz Band de Sedhiou, formed in 1959 and still active, would serve as a talent pool launching the careers of many young musicians.

This enthusiasm for American culture in this pre-independence period was one way of freeing the country from French influence. It also triggered the popularity in Africa of salsa, since it was in New York that it had originally been developed by Cuban musicians.

In Africa the singers would often sing the Spanish lyrics phonetically without actually understanding them. But salsa’s appeal went a lot further than simple enthusiasm for a foreign import. The impact it had on Senegalese music can still be felt today, for example through salsa groups like Africando, the Los afro-salseros de senegal en la habana album of a few years ago, or Moustapha Ndoye’s documentary Sénégal Salsa.

Star Band & co

An iconic group of this movement was the Star Band, which performed for the first time on 3 August 1960, a few days before the country declared its independence. Considered as one of the fathers of Senegalese music, Ibra Kassé had opened a fashionable restaurant in Dakar called Le Miami. Later he converted it into a nightclub with a resident group.

That resident group would be the Star Band. It regrouped members from the Guinea Jazz Band and the Tropical Jazz Band, which also had a residency at Le Miami, by now a top Dakar nightspot. The group brought together most of the best musicians of the city, such as the Nigerian saxophonist Dexter Johnson and singer Emmanuel Gomez – who would reappear the following decade under the name Umban Ukset, with the West African Cosmos alongside Wasis Diop.

The Gambian singer Laba Sosseh, a key figure in the Afro-salsa movement, also later joined the Star Band. This Senegalese musical institution in turn gave birth to numerous other outfits, and survived various splits and reunions until the late 1970s. One of the many who played with the Star Band was Youssou N’Dour.

Senegal’s cultural explosion in the post-independence years was obviously linked to the country’s head of state Léopold Sedar Senghor, who strongly promoted local music. The first World Festival of Negro Arts was held on his initiative in Dakar in April 1966, bringing together many singers and musicians from around the continent. The event also provided a showcase for local artists such as the recently deceased Bira Gueye, who wrote the festival’s anthem sung by Mada Thiam. Mbalax had yet to appear, but the increasing use of the local Wolof language in lyrics heralded a new musical identity that would become a solid reality in the following decade.