Bakhan, Mauritanian messenger

First album, Ndeysan

Paris 

10/02/2011 - 

The singer Bakhan, a finalist in the 2009 RFI Awards, has released a first, self-produced album, Ndeysan. Maintaining a solid faith in his music despite all the struggles, the young Mauritanian has drawn his influences together to convey his country’s culture.

RFI Musique first met the Mauritanian singer Bakhan on a freezing cold November day in Paris in 2009. At the time, he was a finalist at the RFI Découvertes awards, and had disarmed the jury by using his powerful, colourful voice to sing music with wide horizons.

Two years later, the same arctic chill did nothing to alter the sunny smile of the young 29-year-old, although he did jovially remark, “It’s freezing in your country!” In this month of January, the artist had just released his first self-produced album, Ndeysan, initially sketched out in Dakar three years ago and finally honed in a recording studio just outside Paris.

Since participating in RFI’s competition, Cheikh Abdoulaye N’Diaye (his nickname, Bakhan, means “goodness” in Wolof) has left African soil and moved to the French capital – initially for love, then because he liked the nomadic lifestyle, but ultimately for professional reasons. “Paris is THE place when it comes to producers and distributors… In Nouakchott, there is no infrastructure. The musical sphere is really restricted with just a few venues and musicians. Here, there’s some healthy emulation going on and an infinite variety of musical styles. It gives my art impetus and feeds my desires!” Yet because Paris is no Eldorado, Bakhan soon became disenchanted.

In Africa, friends, family and the low cost of living left him free to work on his notes and harmonies. In Paris, his life quickly took the shape of a combat. Music alone was not enough to meet his everyday needs. So, alongside his composing and rehearsals, Bakhan has taken up temporary work in a warehouse. Describing his struggles, a weary shadow flits across his gentle gaze. “If I ever feel that I’m on the point of dropping my music, I’ll pack up and go home. It’s what I love, it’s my whole life, whether people like it or not.”

Emotions

But on this 21 January, playing on the small stage at the Olympic Café, in the heart of Paris’s African neighbourhood, La Goutte d’Or, his tribulations and uncertainties are quickly forgotten. A radiant Bakhan exudes masses of energy, notching up the temperature and the tempo. The Wolof name of his album, Ndeysan, roughly translates as “emotion”, which is something Bakhan rides through in all its nuances: anger, joy, hope, sadness, etc.

The young singer’s music has an astonishingly haunting quality, and his infinitely modulating voice and contagious warmth galvanise the audience. Cheikh, who comes from four different ethnic groups and sings in three languages (Wolof, Fula and Hassaniya), puts the emphasis on crossing bridges. And it starts with his music, which is clearly a sum of all his influences – a series of soundtracks of the paths he has trodden, his travels and the places he has lived in, like Cameroon, Chad and Senegal.

Although there are glimmerings of Mandinka blues and mbalax, the main source of this syncretism is nevertheless a Mauritanian sound, “There’s a particular way of playing blues and soul. Unlike Malian or Senegalese music, my country’s music has never managed to cross borders. It’s too traditional.” Bakhan has therefore given himself the mission of using his voice to modernise Mauritanian song and reach a wider audience.

One of the ways he does it is to take hold of that universal instrument, the guitar, and use it to strum out the slow, distinct notes of the kora or play it like an Indian tabla.  In this conscious communion, Bakhan readily accepts a certain form of spirituality. On the album’s cover, the artist holds his hands together in the simple gesture of prayer adopted by Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

Battles

Yet beyond his mysticism, Cheik also affirms a fighting, militant spirit, “On the track Yehou, which is a wakeup call, I sing about the problems of accessing water. I don’t expect our leaders to perform any miracles, but there’s a bottom line when it comes to health.” In the long list of dedications featured in the booklet that accompanies the disk, Bakhan finishes with: “To My Country”. “I love that land, and yet in Mauritania, young people aren’t given the place they deserve. As soon as you start focusing on a creative career, you leave for Senegal,” claims Bakhan.

“Beyond its borders, it’s often more effective for people to say that they’re Senegalese because it’s a more recognisable culture. They even run away from their own identity because in Mauritania, nothing gets moving.” As well as obviously hoping that his album and career will succeed, Bakhan is also making a wish that his country will unite, and that his rich and varied music will resonate far and wide.

Bakhan Ndeysan (Self-produced) 2011
Playing live at the Scène Bastille in Paris on 26 February 2011

Anne-Laure  Lemancel

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper