Oct 11/04
Dreads and a soft mbalax
Cheikh Lô (pronounced “Shekh Low” with a throwty finish on the “kh”) may look like a Jamaican Rastafarian, but he’s actually a Baye Fall. Dressed in colourful cloaks and sporting mad dreads, Baye Falls are religious disciples of this guy named Cheikh Amadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride sect of Islam. (Depending on who you ask, Bamba got his followers to make him a fortune digging peanuts in return for the promise of eternal salvation.)
Now, those of us who live in Dakar really know that 95% of Baye Falls use the cult (oops, did I say that?) as an excuse to shake-down tourists for change, smoke lots of weed and drink alcohol with the supposed continued blessings of the Prophet. But though shunned by conservative muslims and reviled/loved by your average French tourist sporting “Africa pants”, Baye Falls are usually pretty nice guys. And generally they tend to be good musicians, too.
Enter Cheikh Lô. Ok, ok, he’s Burkinabé by birth and not Senegalese. But he’s lived in Dakar since the 70s, plays a latin-infused, mellow mbalax and is synonymous with the music scene here. You can catch him every Friday at Just4You in Dakar, or you can sample him here today. I’ve selected my favourite tracks from his two full-length LPs, Né La Thiass and Bambay Gueej .
ps- Rumour has it that the reason Cheikh Lô’s first full-length LP, Né La Thiass, made it to the US so late is because of a falling out between Lô and the album’s producer, Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour. Personally I like Lô’s music better that N’Dour’s so maybe Youssou had a jealous reason to hold back the sales? Ooh – Sahel gossip!
Cheikh Lô – Boul Di Tagale
Cheikh Lô – Mbeddemi
Find me a good MP3 blog NOT linked to from Fluxblog
I used to try to keep up with mp3 blogs and link them all, but there are just too many now. Right now, my link section is a mess of stuff that I check all the time and almost not at all.
One excellent mp3 blog I found just the other day that I haven…
my ambition is still to make it to the Magal at Touba
i guess it’s around May time?
let me know when?
I think it’s in April. I’ve never been myself. Will hopefully be able to make it this year. Check this link out for more info.
You guys don’t know what the fuck you’re talking bout!
[...] Benn loxo listener, Chris, asked me for some music from Burkina Faso for his Burkinabé friend at work. While today’s post is actually Italian in a lot of ways (the singer, Gabin Dabirè has lived in Italy since 1975) the roots of the rhythms and lyrics lie in Burkina Faso. I think it’s a pretty good tune, too, so let’s forget the technicalities. It reminds me a bit of Cheikh Lô, another Burkinabé in hiding. [...]
[...] That said, I got home and gave the disc another couple listens because I really like Cheikh Lô, with a particular respect for the way he performs live. Also, while his last album, Bambay Gueej, wasn’t a masterwork, his first album, Né La Thiass, is a true classic and one of my favourite contemporary West African recordings. [...]
[...] After a rather riotous weekend it’s definitely time to take it down a notch. As many of you already know, some of my favourite music coming out of West Africa at the moment is acoustic guitar folk blended with local rhythms, languages and musical styles. Omar Pene’s Myamba, Cheikh Lô and Pape et Cheikh come to mind. Today’s track is right up that alley, and appropriately soothing given my heavy head tonight. [...]
[...] Daby Baldy is from Senegal, though I have to confess I never heard about him while I lived there. The album’s liner notes claim that he has been “long celebrated at home,” but I’m not so sure he’s super popular locally. This is true for a lot of Senegalese artists, Youssou N’Dour excepted, who produce music that appeals to audiences outside of the country. People like Daby Balde, Cheikh Lô, Pape and Cheikh and others play acoustic mbalax and fula sounds that appeal more to world music enthusiasts in North America and Europe than to hip-hop and pop mbalax-hungry local youth. [...]
[...] I’ve posted a couple contemporary Senegalese acoustic mbalax tunes from Cheikh Lô and Pape et Cheikh to give you an idea of why Pandero strikes me as “so Dakar”. [...]