I’ve mentioned many times how Senegalese salsa music used to be the big thing in Dakar in the 60s and 70s. Aside from Youssou N’Dour, the Orchestre 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 Sosseh is another great salsa musician. Born in The Gambia, Sosseh moved to Dakar in the early 60s where he started to play with the Etoile de Dakar, Youssou N’Dour’s first band that Mar Seck also sung with. In the 70s Sosseh worked in NY and Cuba with groups like Orquestra Aragón and Aboudou Lassissi.

Today’s track is off the album, El Maestro: 40 ans de salsa. If you’re using this site to learn a little Wolof, the title means “Give me your hand.” If you understand this much you’ll get most of the lyrics, with the exception of “xale bi.” In Wolof this literally means “a child” but is more commonly used to refer to a young woman or your girlfriend. One of my favourite expressions in Wolof is, “xale yi dangay waaru,”which roughly means, “The ladies, they’re nuts.”

Laba Sosseh – Diokma Sa Loxo