Afropop returns to Dakar, Senegal to catch up with the latest in that country's dominant music style, the bracing, dynamic genre known as mbalax. We'll hear the latest from Youssou N'Dour, Baaba Maal, Pape Diouf and others, and meet lesser known artists working the Dakar scene. We'll also meet a remarkable artist from Senegal's southern Cassamance region, where Mande culture akin to that in Gambia, Mali and Guinea prevails. Noumoucounda Cissoko is a brilliant kora player and singer who now makes his home in Dakar, fusing his Mande roots with sabar drumming, mbalax energy and other influences. We'll speak with him, sample his diverse work and hear him rocking a Dakar street wedding. The thrilling ambiance of this most creative musical city comes alive in this program. Produced by Banning Eyre.
Mbalax Meets Mande in Dakar
WINDOW: a mix of Soumbdioum1.wav, Waves.wav, and Cey Love.m4a, Adiouza, Mala Nop (Adiouzaprod, B00BVYG9ZE)
GEORGES: WELCOME TO DAKAR, SENEGAL, A COSMOPOLITAN METROPOLIS BY THE SEA, A CITY FULL OF MUSIC, AND A PLACE WHERE FOLKS READILY APPROACH STRANGERS WITH INVITATIONS AND REQUESTS…
[emerge on “quelque chose pour handicapé?” CLINK. “Merci”, 0:29 in Soumbdioum1]
…TOWERING ABOVE THE SKYLINE, A MASSIVE BRONZE STATUE OF A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A CHILD POINTING SKYWARD. TO SOME, IT’S A BOLD MONUMENT TO AFRICAN RENNAISSANCE. TO OTHERS, A MASSIVE GOVERNMENT BOONDOGGLE, AND PROPAGANDA WORTHY OF ITS NORTH KOREAN CREATORS. YES, DAKAR IS A CITY OF CONTRADICTIONS, BUT IT’S SO ALIVE! SO EXHILARATING! AND DID I MENTION? SO FULL OF MUSIC.
WINDOW: emerge, emphasizing Cey Love.
GEORGES: HELLO, GEORGES COLLINET WITH YOU ON AFROPOP WORLDWIDE FROM PRI PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL. TODAY WE RETURN TO ONE OF OUR FAVORITE LOCATIONS TO HEAR THE LATEST MBALAX HITS, NEW MUSIC FROM OUR OLD FRIENDS YOUSSOU N’DOUR AND BAABA MAAL, AND MEET A REMARKABLE UP-AND-COMING ARTIST WITH ROOTS IN THE COUNTRY’S SOUTHERN MANDE REGION, CASAMANCE. ALL THAT ON THIS EDITION, “MBALAX MEETS MANDE IN DAKAR.” LET’S KICK OFF WITH A NEW TRACK FROM PAPE DIOUF, ONE OF THE BIGGEST MBALAX STARS ON THE SCENE, WITH HIS BAND LA GENERATION CONSCIENTE, THE CONSCIOUS GENERATION. THE SONG ADVISES YOUNG SENEGALESE TO GET INVOLVED AND DEVELOP THE NATION.
MUSIC: Yallah Jexul et La Génération Consciente.m4a, Pape Diouf, Enjoy (℗ Prince Ibrahima Ndour © Prince Arts, B07BMKWZ3G) [5:41]
BED: Interlude 1.m4a, Noumoucounda Cissoko, Faling (Nomadic Wax, B006VRL2EY) (loop if needed)
GEORGES: HOT NEW MBALAX FROM DAKAR, SENEGAL’S PAPE DIOUF. GEORGES COLLINET WITH YOU ON AFROPOP WORLDWIDE’S RETURN VISIT TO DAKAR. AS LONGTIME LISTENERS KNOW, MBALAX IS BASED ON THE SABAR DRUMMING OF THE WOLOF PEOPLE. SABAR DRUMS ARE TALL AND SHARP TONED. YOU PLAY WITH ONE BARE HAND, AND A STICK IN THE OTHER HAND TO PRODUCE THOSE CRACKING ACCENT BEATS. THE RHYTHYMS ARE DENSE, COMPLICATED! MY COMPADRE BANNING EYRE WAS ALONG ON THIS DAKAR VISIT, AND HE HAS SOME TIPS ON WHAT TO LISTEN FOR IN MBALAX.
BANNING: Fred Hirschy is a Swiss musician/producer who’s lived in Dakar for 15 years. He’s watched visiting musicians struggle with the fierce rhythms in mbalax.
ACTY: Fred_mbalax_rhythm .wav: You need to listen to the hi-hat. This was one of Cheikh Lo’s musicians who told me that. We were listening to a song and I was like, “Man, I don’t understand this song.” And he said, “Listen to the hi-hat.” Because the thing is, we hear the snare on two and four. And in mbalax, it’s going to be one and three. <SINGS> That’s the easiest rhythm. That can help. [BE_mbalax_rhythm.wav: When you say, “Listen to the hi-hat, is the hi-hat giving you the downbeat?] Yeah, because most of the time, the hi-hat is going to be <SINGS>.
WINDOW/BED: synch with Rekkente Bi.m4am Pape Diouf, Enjoy (emerge around 2:20, then fade to bed)
BANNING: Our friend Matt Tinari had another thought on understanding the mbalax rhythm, and it has to do with the way people dance. By the way, we know Matt from his days long ago as an Afropop intern in Brooklyn. Today, he lives in Dakar, playing drums with the great Mauritanian griot Noura Mint Seymali and managing Sidi Toure from Mali. But back to mbalax, Matt says you have to watch the way people dance.
ACTY: Matt_mbalax_rhythm.wav: Instead of feeling the beats down, the way people are dancing it’s as if it’s going up. If you imagine a line at your waist and the beat hitting up on that line instead of stamping down on the beat. It’s like reversed. The energy is going up instead of down.
GEORGES: WELL, FOLKS, SEE IF THAT HELPS AS WE HIT YOU WITH A DOUBLE SHOT OF RECENT MBALAX, STARTING WITH THE SOARING, RAZOR-SHARP VOICE OF ASSANE NDIAYE FROM HIS RECENT ALBUM SENEGAMBIA.
MUSIC: Xalebi.m4a, Assane Ndiaye, Senegambia (DOMOU JOLOFF) [4:54]
MUSIC: Tamit.m4a, Titi, (Africa Rekk) (up to 2:50, then to bed)
GEORGES: THAT’S TITI WITH “TAMIT,” “CRAZY LOVE.” TITI REPRESENTS A GROWING NUMBER OF FEMALE MBALAX STARS IN SENEGAL. THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE GENRE’S SINGERS WERE ALL MEN. BUT TODAY, WE HAVE VIVIANE N’DOUR, VIVIANE CHIDID, ADIOUZA, AIDA SAMB, TITI AND MANY MORE EVERY YEAR.
WINDOW/BED: Interlude 2.m4a, Noumoucounda Cissoko, Faling
GEORGES: MBALAX STILL RULES THE AIRWAVES IN DAKAR, BUT THERE’S ALSO SENEGALESE HIP-HOP AND AFROBEATS, AND MUSIC FROM THE SOUTHERN CASAMANCE REGION, HOME TO MOSTLY MANDE PEOPLE.
WINDOW/BED: more Interlude 2.m4a, brief
GEORGES: KORA MAESTRO AND BANDLEADER NOUMOUCOUNDA CISSOKO IS A BROTHER OF THE LATE KORA PLAYER KAUNDING CISSOKO, WHO ACCOMPANIED BAABA MAAL FOR MANY YEARS. NOUMOU IS A MANDE GRIOT, BUT HE’S PLAYED WITH A WHO’S-WHO OF SENEGALESE ARTISTS: POSITIVE BLACK SOUL, BAABA MAAL, YOUSSOU N’DOUR, OMAR PENE, THIONE SECK, ISMAEL LO, EVEN RAPPER MC SOLAR IN FRANCE. THE LIST IS LONG AND GROWING.
BED: Noumou_guitar_warmup.wav
ACTY: Noumou_intro.wav
GEORGES: NOUMOU IS INTRODUCING HIMSELF, NAMING HIS FATHER AND HIS FOUR MOTHERS! NOUMOU’S STUDIO IS CALLED KARANTABA, WHICH MEANS “THE DESIRE TO LEARN.” BEFORE WE SPOKE, NOUMOU PICKED UP HIS GUITAR AND PLAYED A MANDE GRIOT CLASSIC “KEME BOURAMA”
WINDOW: Noumou_KemeBourama.wav [first 40 seconds, then fade to bed]
ACTY: Noumou_Manding .wav [French]
GEORGES: NOUMOU SAYS HIS FAMILY COMES FROM MANDING CASAMANCE, PEOPLE WITH LINKS TO GAMBIA, MALI, THE JULA TRADERS IN COTE D’IVOIRE… NOUMOU SAYS, “WE ALL COME FROM THE MANDE EMPIRE.” AND THAT, DEAR LISTENERS, GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE 12th AND 13th CENTURIES.
ACTY: Noumou_family .wav [French]
GEORGES: NOUMOU IS TALKING ABOUT HIS MUSICAL FAMILY. HE SAYS, “OUR FATHER SANG, DANCED, PLAYED KORA AND PERCUSSION. OUR MOTHER SANG TOO, AND THE UNCLES PLAYED GUITAR, TALKING DRUM, BALAFON… PAPA DID NOT FORCE US. HE SAID, ‘CHOOSE YOUR OWN PATH,’ AND THAT’S WHAT WE DID.” NOUMOU’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL ALBUM AS A SOLO ARTIST CAME OUT IN 2012, IT’S CALLED FALING.
ACTY: Noumou_Faling .wav
GEORGES: NOUMOU SAYS “FALING” MEANS “SHARING.” “THIS IS WHAT MY FATHER TAUGHT US. EVERYTHING YOU HAVE, YOU HAVE TO SHARE.” THE ALBUM BLENDS MANDE TRADITION WITH POP, ROCK AND JAZZ. LET’S HEAR THE OPENING TRACK, “BANNAYA FOLY,” AN HOMAGE TO NOUMOU’S FATHER.
MUSIC: Bannaya Foly.m4a, Noumoucounda Cissoko, Faling [6:21, but we will edit it down]
BED: Noumou_studioAmbiance.wav
GEORGES: I LOVE THAT. NOUMOUCOUNDA CISSOKO. AFROPOP’S BANNING EYRE VISITED NOUMOU IN HIS DAKAR STUDIO, WHERE HE AND HIS PRODUCER FRED HIRCHY WERE PUTTING THE FINAL TOUCHES ON A NEW ALBUM, NOUMOUKAN WILILA.
BANNING: In the studio’s cozy control room, Noumou coached his sister Gounda Cissoko as she laid down backing vocals on a nearly finished track.
WINDOW/BED: Noumou_Studio_work.wav [25 seconds or so in the clear, then to bed]
BANNING: I could hear that the track was based on the griot classic Noumou had played for us on guitar, “Keme Bourama.” I asked him what his version of the song was about.
ACTY: Noumou_women .wav [French]
BANNING: Noumou says it’s a song for women. “Today you can see that women can be presidents, ministers, whatever they want. We must leave behind the idea that women should just work in the house.” The song is called “Kha-mi Mousso,” composed by Noumou and Fred. Here’s a bit of the finished version, ready just in time for this broadcast.
WINDOW: Kha-mi Mousso {Mastered HD}.wav, Noumoucounda Cissoko, Noumoukan Wilila
BANNING: After all his experiences with mbalax stars and Senegalese rappers, Noumou is decidedly open minded, always keen to try new things with his music. That’s one reason he has become so tight with his producer and accompanist Fred Hirschy. Noumou is a big part of the reason that this Swiss adventurer has stayed in Dakar for 15 years.
ACTY: Fred_black_music .wav: I grew up listening to basically black music. Blues. Funk, soul.. So basically, I wanted to go to Africa to just really understand basically the roots of this music. The funny thing is the music that you hear here--the style here, the mbalax--I can almost say that it has nothing to do with the black music that I knew. When I hear Mande music, this I understand. Because it's really like the music that I know. But mbalax, it's totally different. And also, you can see that the musicians here, they're not very comfortable with soul music, blues and everything, because their style of music is so different.
BANNING: Of course Noumou’s perspective is a bit different. For him, there’s an easy resonance between Mande music and mbalax.
ACTY: Noumou_languages .wav [French]
BANNING: Noumou says he was born in Dakar, so it’s easy for him to sing in Bambara and Wolof. “On all my albums you hear a lot of Bambara and Wolof,” he says. “It's a real advantage for me. I can even sing in Zulu!” In fact, one track on Faling features South African rapper/singer Tumi Molekane. Noumou says it’s especially easy for a Mande griot to rap.
ACTY: Noumou_rap .wav [French]
BANNING: “Before,” says Noumou, “Our ancestors did something like rap, but they did it in Mande. [RAPS]. Even breakdancing, I look at my family and I see similar things. Of course, it has evolved a lot. it's more modern. It has many original things. But when I look at that, and I look at what my family did, I have to believe that this came from Africa.” Let’s hear another track from Noumou’s new album, a collaboration with one of Senegal’s most renowned hip-hop acts, the Daara J Family.
MUSIC: Yewala feat. Daara J Family [Mastered HD].wav, Noumoucounda Cissoko, Noumoukan Wilila [4:13]
BED: Noumou_wedding_Ambiance.wav (use as needed)
GEORGES: NOUMOUCOUNDA CISSOKO AND THE DAARA J FAMILY. AFTER WE MET IN NOUMOU AND FRED’S STUDIO, FRED GRABBED HIS BASS, NOUMOU HIS KORA, AND WE ALL STEPPED OUT TO THE STREET WHERE NOUMOU AND HIS SISTER GOUNDA SANG AT A FAMILY WEDDING, MIXING MANDE GRIOT GOOD TIDINGS WITH FLASHY SABAR DRUMS.
WINDOW: Noumou_wedding_MUSIC.wav (use as needed, near the end is hotter)
GEORGES: NOUMOUCOUNDA CISSOKO HOLDING FORTH AT A DOWN HOME DAKAR STREET WEDDING. COMING UP NEW MUSIC FROM YOUSSOU N’DOUR AND BAABA MAAL, AND… MORE MBALAX! VISIT AFROPOP.ORG TO SEE BANNING’S BEAUTIFUL PHOTO ESSAY FROM OUR VISIT TO DAKAR. I’M GEORGES COLLINET, AND YOU’RE LISTENING TO AFROPOP WORLDWIDE, FROM PRI, PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL.
WINDOW: 20-second break : “Dindingo A Bamah,” Noumoucounda Cissoko, Faling (first 20)
WINDOW/BED: JAJAABÉ'.mp3, Baaba Maal, YouTube
GEORGES: SO FAR, IN DAKAR, WE’VE HEARD FIERY MBALAX, AND MANDE CROSSOVER MUSIC. BUT WE CAN’T FORGET THE NORTH OF SENEGAL, THE PODOR REGION, HOME TO THE TOUCOULEUR, AND TO A VOICE I THINK YOU’LL RECOGNIZE…
WINDOW: JAJAABÉ'.mp3 (Emerge on vocal 0:30—0:40)
GEORGES: YES, THAT’S BAABA MAAL FROM A GORGEOUS NEW VIDEO FILMED DEEP IN THE DESERT. THE SONG IS “JAJAABE.”
WINDOW: (more, up to 1:25)
GEORGES: WHEN WE VISITED, BAABA WAS BUSY PREPARING FOR “BLUES AU FLEUVE,” BLUES BY THE RIVER, A MUSIC FESTIVAL IN PODOR THAT HE PRODUCES EVERY YEAR IN THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER. ONE DAY WE HOPE TO BE THERE! INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES HAVEN’T HEARD MUCH FROM BAABA SINCE HIS COLLABORATION WITH MUMFORD AND SONS IN 2016, AND, OF COURSE, HIS MUSIC IN THE FILM BLACK PANTHER. BUT BACK IN SENEGAL, HE’S BEEN BUSY. HERE’S ANOTHER NEW TRACK, WHICH YOU CAN FIND ON YOUTUBE. THE TITLE IS “KAALAJO”
MUSIC: Kalaajo.mp3, Baaba Maal, YouTube (fade in under last VO and emerge at 0:55-4:30, then to bed)
GEORGES: I LOVE THIS GUY, THE IMMORTAL, BAABA MAAL. SO WHAT ABOUT SENEGAL’S MOST FAMOUS SINGER, YOUSSOU N’DOUR? WELL, IN DAKAR, HE’S JUST OUT WITH A NEW ALBUM, CALLED RESPECT. AND IT OPENS WITH A MOVING TRIBUTE TO A FALLEN BROTHER. HABIB FAYE WAS A BASSIST, GUITARIST, KEYBOARDIST, ARRANGER AND COMPOSER, A GRAMMY-WINNING PRODUCER AND THE LONGTIME MUSICAL DIRECTOR OF YOUSSOU’S BAND, SUPER ETOILE DE DAKAR. HABIB FAYE DIED SUDDENLY IN PARIS IN APRIL, 2018. HE WAS JUST 52.
MUSIC: Habib faye Featuring Jean-Philippe Rykiel.m4a, Youssou N’Dour, Respect, Youssou N’Dour (℗ Youssou N'Dour © Youssou N'Dour / Aboubakary Coulibaly, B07LB67HHQ) (4:48)
GEORGES: YOUSSOU N’DOUR’S BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE TO HIS LATE FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE HABIB FAYE, A GIANT OF MODERN SENEGALESE MUSIC. THE SONG FEATURES ANOTHER VETERAN, KEYBOARDIST AND ARRANGER JEAN-PHILIPPE RYKIEL. LET’S HEAR ONE MORE TRACK FROM YOUSSOU’S LATEST RELEASE, “RESEAUX SOCIAUX,” THE SOCIAL NETWORK. THE SONG WARNS YOUNG SENEGALESE OF THE DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA. YOUSSOU SINGS, “MISUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IS DESTROYING THE VALUES WE INHERITED FROM OUR ANCESTORS.”
MUSIC: Réseaux sociaux.m4a, Youssou N’Dour, Respect, Youssou N’Dour (top to 3:22)
GEORGES: YOUSSOU N’DOUR WITH “RESEUAX SOCIAUX” ADVISING YOUNG SENEGALESE ON THE DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA…. YOU KNOW, THERE’S SO MUCH MUSIC IN DAKAR, FAR BEYOND THE INTERNATIONAL STARS LIKE YOUSSOU AND BAABA MAAL, EVEN BEYOND THE LOCAL CELEBRATIES YOU HEAR ON THE DAKAR AIRWAVES. HERE’S BANNING WITH A STREET-LEVEL REPORT ON MUSICIANS WORKING ON THE MARGINS OF SUCCESS IN THE MBALAX CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
ACTY: CallToPrayer.wav
BANNING: One evening, in the Medina neighborhood of Dakar, where Youssou N’Dour grew up, we visited a grass roots cultural center named for the late Senegalese actor, Douta Seck. There wasn’t a show on, but a number of artists were rehearsing, including Latyr Faye, a veteran of the Orchestre National de Senegal. Started in the 1980s, the National Orchestra has long served as proving ground for a wide variety of Senegalese musicians.
WINDOW/BED: Latyr_SenghorSong.wav
ACTY: Latyr_Senghor.wav [French]
BANNING: Latyre explained that he sang this song for Leopold Senghor, the first president of Senegal, and, like Latyre, a member of the Serer ethnic group. The Serer, he says, sing history, and Senghor was a man who did a lot for Senegal, and for the whole world. Indeed, the poet politician was a chief architect of the globally influential pan-African Negritude movement.
WINDOW: more Latyr_SenghorSong.wav
BED: (under next speech) Prince_rehearsal_ambiance.wav
BANNING: A little later a full band set up for singer Adama Sacko, who goes by the stage name Prince. A fifteen-year veteran in music, Prince comes from a Mande griot family in Casamance and plays the kora, but on this day, he was rehearsing his six-year old band for a full-on mbalax show aimed squarely at mainstream Dakar musical tastes.
WINDOW/BED: Prince_rehearsal_song.wav
BANNING: Prince and his band Tako were polishing up some famous covers, but he’s a composer as well.
ACTY: Prince_songs.wav (French)
BANNING: Prince says he writes about the difficulties people face, poverty, hunger. At the same time, he doesn’t like to complain. That’s why he and his group always persevere, and he sings about that too. So it’s a balance. As he says, “In this world, everything is complicated.”
WINDOW: more Prince_rehearsal_song.wav
GEORGES: THANKS BANNING, FOR THAT ON-THE-SCENE SNAPSHOT. BELIEVE ME, IT’S NOT EASY TO MAKE A NAME IN DAKAR’S COMPETITIVE MUSIC SCENE. WE WISH LATYR AND PRINCE THE BEST OF LUCK.
OKAY, LET’S CHANGE GEARS RADICALLY. IT WONT SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THE MORE ADVENTUROUS SENEGALESE MUSICIANS ARE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF THEIR MUSIC. TAKE NDAGGA RHYTHM FORCE, A COLLECTIVE OF SABAR MUSICIANS UNDER THE DIRECTION OF GERMAN TECHNO PIONEER MARK ERNESTUS. CHECK OUT THIS TRACK FROM THEIR GROOVING 2015 ALBUM, YERMANDE.
MUSIC: Yermande (Kick and Bass Mix).mp3, Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force, Yermande ((C) 2015 Ndagga, B00SVSAA1M) (up to 3:50 then to bed)
GEORGES: MARK ERNESTUS’S NDAGGA RHYTHM FORCE, TAKING SABAR DRUMMING INTO THE 21ST CENTURY. IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT THERE’S PROBABLY NOT A BIG AUDIENCE IN DAKAR FOR THIS SORT OF EXPERIMENTATION. EARLIER IN THE PROGRAM WE MET PRODUCER FRED HIRCHY WHO’S BEEN WORKING IN DAKAR FOR 15 YEARS. HE IS FASCINATED BY MBALAX MUSIC WITH ITS GNARLY SABAR RHYTYMS. BUT HE WISHES THERE WOULD BE MORE INNOVATION IN THE GENRE.
ACTY: Fred_producers .wav: The musicians are good, but for me there's a lack of arrangers and producers. So people like Youssou N’Dour, most of the time they work with people from abroad—the sound engineers, etc. So now, I thought we are in a New World musically. The hip-hop scene, they really adapted the music. And they know what's happening in the world. But the mbalax thing? There something that needs to be done for this music. Because they just do it like they did it 30 years ago.
GEORGES: FRED HAS A POINT. THEN AGAIN, THERE’S SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR A TRIED AND TRUE POP MUSIC FORMULA, WHICH MBALAX MOST CERTAINLY IS! BUT WE SHOULD POINT OUT THAT THERE ARE MBALAX MUSICIANS WORKING WITH NEW FORMULAS. TAKE ONE OF THE BIGGEST NAMES ON THE MBALAX SCENE TODAY, WALLY SECK, THE SON OF NOW-RETIRED MBALAX LEGEND THIONE SECK. HERE’S WALLY COLLABORATING WITH THE HIP-HOP ACT AKHLOU BRICK PARADISE. THE SONG IS “NILA,” AND IT PRAISES THE BEAUTY OF AFRICAN WOMEN.
MUSIC: Nila.m4a, Wally ft Akhlou Brick, Single (Musée record & hoside, B07GZD5LB3) (up to 3:25)
GEORGES: “NILA,” A COLLABORATION BETWEEN MBALAX STAR WALLY SECK AND SENEGALESE HIP-HOPPERS AKHLOU BRICK PARADISE. FUNDING FOR AFROPOP WORLDWIDE COMES FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, WHICH BELIEVES A GREAT NATION DESERVES GREAT ART, AND PRI PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATE STATIONS AROUND THE U.S. AND THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR PUBLIC RADIO STATION. WE TAKE YOU OUT WITH A FINAL SHOT OF HARD-CORE MBALAX FROM ONE OF THE GENRE’S LEADING LADIES, ADIOUZA.
WINDOW/BED: Aladji.m4a, Adiouza, Mala Nop (℗© Keyzit, B076FMZCDM) (nice to get to 3:30 and go out on big note!)
GEORGES: THANKS TO MATT TINARI, NOUMOUKOUNDA CISSOKO AND FRED HIRCHY FOR THEIR HELP IN DAKAR, AND TO BIRANE SARR FOR HIS TRANSLATIONS OF THE MBALAX SONGS IN THIS PROGRAM. VISIT AFROPOP.ORG TO READ THOSE TRANSLATIONS, AND TO SEE BANNING’S PHOTO ESSAY ON DAKAR. YOU CAN ALSO FIND US ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AT “AFROPOPWW.” MY AFROPOP PARTNER IS SEAN BARLOW. SEAN PRODUCES OUR PROGRAM FOR WORLD MUSIC PRODUCTIONS. RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION FOR THIS PROGRAM BY BANNING EYRE.
HEY, HERE’S AN AFROPOP FIRST! WE’RE HOSTING A STAGE AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST IN AUSTIN THIS YEAR. FRIDAY, MARCH 15 FEATURING A FANTASTIC LINEUP THAT INCLUDES SAUTI SOL, JOJO ABOT AND ADEKUNLE GOLD. WATCH AFROPOP.ORG FOR DETAILS.
JOIN US NEXT WEEK FOR ANOTHER EDITION OF AFROPOP WORLDWIDE. THIS PROGRAM WAS MIXED AT STUDIO 44 IN BROOKLYN BY MICHAEL JONES. ADDITIONAL ENGINEERING BY MIKE CAPLAN. BANNING EYRE AND CC SMITH EDIT OUR WEBSITE, AFROPOP.ORG. OUR DIRECTOR OF NEW MEDIA IS BEN RICHMOND. AND I’M GEORGES COLLINET.
