Mbalax, Senegal’s premier dance music, a unique blend of Latin, soul, jazz and funk, a sort of fusion between western elements and sabar drumming, the traditional percussion, has offered up numerous heroes since its inception in the mid 70’s. Perhaps most notable is the vocalist/ percussionist Youssou N’Dour, however there is a newer generation of artists making the genre their own. Fallou Dieng. who really came to prominence in the 90’s, from which many of the pieces from this compilation were gathered, is commonly referred to as the ‘king of ambience,’ which may be due to his unique vocal style or his DLC band which include drums, keys, guitar, marimba, sabar percussion, horns and backup singers. It’s a rich full sound, driven by the incredible percussion which keeps the energy way up, with thin snaking highly repetitive guitar, abrupt horn stabs and Dieng’s voice soaring above his back up singers. His voice is incredibly versatile, often adopting an abrupt call and response spoken word, almost hip hop relationship with his backup singers, otherwise he can sing these long highly melodic lines, often about faith loyalty and love and there’s no doubt the positive sense of well being emanating from his music.
Bob Baker Fish
*
