Oct 4/06
Phil & Kenny Rock Africa
While living in Dakar I never quite figured out was why I had so many conversations like this :
“What’s your favourite kind of music?”
“Rap, RnB.”
“Oh, yeah. Cool. What groups are you into?”
“You know, Jay-Z, Daara J, 50 Cent, Pharrell and Phil Collins.”
“Did you just say Phil Collins?”
“Yeah, I like to chill-out to Phil Collins, maybe mix it up with some Usher.”
It’s at moments like this where I feel very Canadian/French/not-Senegalese. Could someone from Dakar please tell me why Phil Collins is so loved in Senegal? Seriously, he’s been top 10 radio play for as long as I’ve known the country.
To make matters even more confusing, another Benn loxo reader reports that you can’t go a day in Rwanda without hearing some Kenny Rogers.
Now don’t get me wrong- I love a little Phil and Kenny. I’ll even admit that when I dug-out my copy of I’m Not Moving I was all, “Damn, Phil!”
Hopefully we get some answers. I’d also like it if someone to finally gave me a good answer as to why are there dozens of Madonna and/or Rambo stickers on every public bus in Senegal. Not to mention the classic Dakar-new-arrival question, “why do radio stations play the complete Chariots of Fire title track before the news at 6?”
I bet this one will really scare the podcasters who never read the posts.
Phil Collins – I’m Not Moving
Kenny Rogers – Ticket To Nowhere
In another curiousity, Ethiopians really seem to dig Billy Ocean. He’s still on the radio there all the time, you’d think he had just released an album.
First – my compliments to your site, it’s on my A+ list of blogs, I’m a “first time caller, long time listener”
I’m surprised Sting didn’t make it into the conversation. Between him and Phil, they are representin’ the MOR AOR of EuroNorthAmerica in every country around the world so it seems. I don’t know what it is about those two – the production values, the easily digested melodies, the maudlin sentimentality – but they really make an unfortunate case for the universality of pap.
I recall too many instances of being in Jamaica and being subjected to 80s era Kenny Rogers – a visit in 1982 was all about “Islands In The Stream”. It just seems so incongruous, but in a weird way it’s just as central to people’s musical vocabulary. Maybe that’s part of the reason why the slick oversynthesized world music of the 80s and 90s came about – the doughy synths, the heavy verb – most of the blame goes to stupid major labels and producers for sure, but part of it may be about an artist wanting to achieve the majesty of “No Jacket Required” and they just bought into the slickness.
Maybe it’s his connection with Peter Gabriel? Is PG popular there? Him I could understand.
Not to forget the combination of Rambo and Bin with a plane above his head. Two extremes on one window of a Dakar-taxi.
PG isn’t popular in the Caribbean … I think Phil is more sucessful worldwide because his music is more accessible. Plus he’s awesome.
Jonathan Zilberg wrote a great article on country and african music: “Yes, It’s True: Zimbabweans Love Dolly Parton” in the Journal of Popular Culture (1995, Vol 29).
In Tanzania (1993), I kept bumping into Skeeter Davis’ song, “The End of the World”… in passing taxis, in cafes. It’s a great song… much preferred over Jim Reeves Christmas’ songs in tropical heat…
Anyone who wants to read the Zilberg article, email cue4job AT yahoo.com and I can get it to you (copyright protected, personal use only, blah blah blah)
I’ve never been to Africa, but I did recently live in Luxembourg, and Phil Collins and Kenny Rogers were both very popular there, and Stevie Wonder also. Riding on the bus into the city early in the morning, it was usually a very quiet ride with a few people talking softly. But if one of those three came on the bus radio, then there would be at least one person singing along out loud, and sometimes three or four people. English is the fourth language they learn in Luxembourg (behind Luxembourgish, French, and German), so I always had my doubts that they even understood the words they were singing, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.”