Oct 15/06
Dakar Dispatch #7
When I first moved to Dakar a few years ago we would often go to this tiny bar up in Sacré Coeur III to see Soulaymane Faye play. He’d sit there in the corner in his leather pants, strumming his guitar as we sipped sweaty Gazelles at the bar, sometimes chewing on tasty grilled fish. Souleymane has since moved on to bigger and better things, but I’ll always think of sitting in this bar with my friends on Thursdays whenever I hear his music.
Unfrotunately the place is long since gone, but there are still plenty of holes in the wall to take its place. Had a great night yesterday filled with a few of my favourite dive bars around Baobab, Castor and Plateau. The night swung between Ivoirian hospitality to Senegalese cool to dirty salsa and late night, bleary-eyed fun. Nice way to end off the Dakar trip.
Today’s tracks come off the Dakar edition of Sénégal Flash. You’ll hear an early, possibly pre-leather panted Souleymane Faye with synths that actually “work”, along with a tune by Pape Djiby Ba that I’ve really been digging this hot Dakar afternoon.
Souleymane Faye – Aminta Ndiaye
Pape Djiby Ba – Andeu Bolo
While you’re exploring dakar’s music history, coulden’t you find an old LP of a senegalo-canadian afro-jazz mix of the 8oth’s. It was cold Dadje or dadie, and I remember there was a splendid black and white photo of a painted face (smal in the center of a black pochette)
Impossible to find anything about this group on the net
Just catching up on your Dakar Dispatches – sounds like a wonderful trip, and what a lot of great sounds! One minor technical glitch: the Souleymane Faye track cuts off early about 15 sec or so before the nominal end of the mp3, at least when I play it back with iTunes. (I tried redownloading it & get the same thing). Not a tragedy, but it leads to an abrupt ending to a fine melody…
Thanks again for the fine sounds, and welcome back.