Apr 14/05
I left my mbalax at the office
I was going to pull an All Mbalax, All The Time week here at Benn loxo, but unfortunately I left today’s mbalax pick at the office. We’ll pick up again with some Dakar “Manhattan of West Africa” sabar sounds tomorrow, but for now let’s take a quick dip into that other side of Senegalese music: la musique des vieux, la salsa senegalaise.
Mar Seck used to sing with Etoile de Dakar, Youssou Ndour’s original Dakar band before it reformed as the Super Etoile. He split from the band early – rumour has it his ego was too big for backup – and went on to pursue solo projects and more salsa-oriented groups like Number One. He managed to form quite a rep here in Senegal but never quite reached the kind of international recognition that Youssou enjoys today.
Regardless, Mar Seck is well-loved in Senegal and has some good tunes floating around. True, Senegalese salsa will forever be the music of old folks around these parts, but I love it. Put a little whiskey in me and I’ll grab K and whip her around the dancefloor like there’s no tomorrow.
ps- the name of today’s track can be roughly translated as “rather rotund, seriously dominating Senegalese matriarch.”
Tags: salsa, senegal
What a great song. I could listen to this kind of salsa all day long!
J’aime ca….. (i speak v bad french)
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« I left my mbalax at the office
A [...]
[...] stre Baobab is probably the most well known Senegalese group. The other day I posted some Mar Seck, a big name among the older musical generation here. Laba S [...]
Diongoma xoleen mi me doxe, mi doxe neikana!
Great choice as ever! Keep ‘em coming!
[...] @ 2:04 pm
I wrote a post a while back about Mar Seck, un des rois de la musique salsa au Sénégal. The song I p [...]
[...] e sono riusciti ad esportare e far apprezzare la loro musica al di fuori del continente africano: Youssou N’Dour, Ismael Lo, Baba Maal, Toure Kunda e les Freres [...]