I mentioned in my last post that I’d seen a Julia Sarr and Patrice Larose concert recently. In continuing with my promotion of the excellent No Format releases I’ll post some music from their album today.
Julia Sarr used to be a backup singer for Youssou N’Dour and is now embarking on a solo career. She lives in Paris with her teenaged son who she, very cutely, describes as being in his “yo yo” phase.. but she still loves him.
I admit to not knowing her music before I saw the show. My friend, Olivier, invited me to the Satellit café for the show. Since I had been so impressed with Mamani Keita on the No Format sampler I immediately agreed to come. I finally got to meet Laurent there, the No Format label creator. Nice guy.
Right from the start Julia Sarr put on an excellent show. She was relaxed on stage, cracking jokes between songs and acting generally cute overall. Her voice is what really did me in, though. Not only is her Wolof slowly and smoothly spoken (so I can understand bits!) but I find her tone sounds just right to my ears. Beautiful stuff.
You can hear it for yourself. I’ve included two tracks: my favourite, Yitte, and another that better features Sarr’s stunning voice. I also love the references in the second to Dakar neighbourhoods.. la nostalgie, tu vois.
All No Format albums can be bought online on their website: http://www.noformat.net/
Patrice Larose & Julia Sarr - Na mana
Patrice Larose & Julia Sarr feat Leity M’Baye - Yitte
Tags:
paris,
senegal,
wolof