Madiba:

As it concerns Gambian music, I am way out in no man's land.  I have neither
heard of Viviane Ndour nor Falou Dieng.

But after all the hype on the L by the likes of brother Njok Jeng of London
and the Rhode Island crew, I have to replace my soccer shoes with my Mbalax
ones to boogie to some of these tracks.  The last time I raided Prince
Obrien's archives and downloaded 'Gambia' by Thione Secka, chills ran down my
spine as I listened to him sing about Serrekunda, Bakau, Banjul etc etc.  I
also downloaded some old school Super Etoile which sounded more like
'Cubanismo' music.  Does anyone remember listening to a lot of this music on
Radio Syd in the late 70's and early 80s? I believe we called it Pachanga
music.  How did this shape the Mbalax music we have today?

Overall, Senegambian musicians have done well.  It is not uncommon to catch a
clip of Baba Maal's voice on a commercial on TV, or to hear musical
collaborations between folks that play the Kora and a group like the
Afro-Celtics.  Senegambian music has hit the big time these days.

Yus

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>