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2 Youssou N Dour and the Super Étoile de Dakar Concert Hall Hong Kong Cultural Centre 1 30 Running time: approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes with no interval 7 11 Musicians Biography 13 Feature : A Modern Day Griot To make this performance a pleasant experience for the artists and other members of the audience, PLEASE switch off your alarm watches, MOBILE PHONES and PAGERS. Eating and drinking, unauthorised photography and audio or video recording are forbidden in the auditorium. Thank you for your cooperation.

3 7 Vocals Youssou N Dour The Super Étoile de Dakar Bass Habib Faye Lead Guitar Jimi Mbaye Talking Drums Assane Thiam Rhythm Guitar Pape Omar Ngom Keyboards Moustapha Faye Percussion Elhadj Faye Ibrahima Cisee Drums Abdoulaye Lo Backing Vocals Djanke Djiba Dancer Moussa Sonko Meet-the-Artist (Post-Performance) Sat If you would like to meet Youssou N Dour, please stay behind in the auditorium after the performance The audio equipment is sponsored by

4 10 Youssou N Dour

5 Biography Live8 Senegalese-born Youssou N Dour is one of Africa s most celebrated musicians. A renowned singer, songwriter and composer, his mix of traditional Senegalese mbalax with eclectic influences ranging from Cuban samba to hip-hop, jazz, and soul has won him an international fan base of millions. N Dour was born in Dakar in 1959 and first took to the stage at the age of 12. By his mid-teens he was regularly singing with the most successful group in Senegal at that time, the Star Band. In 1979, he put together his own ensemble, the Étoile de Dakar, which by 1981 had evolved into the Super Étoile de Dakar. In 1998, N Dour wrote and performed the official anthem for the World Cup playoffs, La Cour des Grands, an event watched by three billion fans worldwide. One of the most celebrated African musicians in history, N Dour has collaborated with international musicians Peter Gabriel, Sting, Neneh Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Branford Marsalis. In Senegal he has become a powerful cultural icon actively involved in social issues. In 1985 N Dour organised a concert in Dakar s Amitié Stadium for the liberation of Nelson Mandela, and in the late 1980s toured Europe in the Amnesty International Human Rights concerts. More recently he performed at three of the Live 8 concerts in London, Paris and the Eden Project, Cornwall in The recipient of numerous prizes for his music, N Dour won a Grammy Award for Egypt in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category in

6 Feature 13 A Modern Day Griot 1988 By Manolete Mora A self-proclaimed modern griot, Youssou N Dour collaborated with Peter Gabriel and other prominent artists such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, L Shankar and Baaba Maal, to create one of the great landmarks of World Music, the soundtrack for Scorsese s The Last Temptation of Christ in Since then N Dour has established himself as the leading Senegalese artist on the international scene, and a cosmopolitan whose role as ambassador for several major international humanitarian programmes has earned him commendations the world over. Youssou N Dour was born in Dakar, Senegal in 1959 into a lineage of griots from his mother s side. In

7 traditional Senegalese society, the griots were a social caste that served the nobility and preserved the oral history of the community. Before the colonization of West Africa, griots extolled the virtues of the kings and chieftains in music and guarded their knowledge of ancestral lineages and histories. Griot families have passed on this knowledge, along with skills in drumming, flute playing and trumpeting. In pre-colonial times, the griots dominated music in Senegal though today it persists alongside the popular styles that have opened up the local music culture. Nevertheless, Youssou N Dour s griot background lends him an authenticity and authority that few international artists of his generation possess. While he has used the griot tradition to his advantage, he has taken seriously the responsibility that this legacy holds. For the Senegalese consider the griot as one who helps the common people understand events in the world. His professional career began at the tender age of 12, and by his mid-teens he was heading the Star Band, the most popular group in Senegal at the time. In 1979, N Dour formed his own group, the Étoile de Dakar, which evolved into Africa s most famous band, the Super Étoile de Dakar. Under N Dour s musical leadership, the Super Étoile, invented a modern African musical style that influenced international artists as different as Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon. In 1983, he began touring Europe with his first international hit Zmmigrés, which sang of the thousands of African migrants living in Paris and elsewhere, and which came to the attention of Peter Gabriel. He later worked with American film director Spike Lee on the stunning Eyes Open album, which was an attempt to win western audiences over to N Dour s unique style. He achieved his biggest chart success in 1994 with The Guide (Wommat) featuring the huge hit single, Seven Seconds, and which was recorded as a duo with Neneh Cherry. He has toured internationally for almost 30 years and in 2005 he won his first American Grammy Award for Egypt, as the Best Contemporary World Music Album. Some critics have described Youssou N Dour as the African Artist of the Century and his contribution to

8 the creation and popularisation of the Senegalese mbalax style has been formidable. Mbalax, a term which comes from the Wolof language meaning the rhythm of the drum, is a mix of traditional griot percussion rhythms and praise-singing with the Afro- Cuban musical styles that had exerted considerable influence on Senegalese popular music from the 1940s through to the 1960s. N Dour re-africanised the local Afro-Cuban based popular music by substituting Afro-Cuban instruments, such as the congas and bongos, with African ones, in particular the talking drums, and persuaded his guitarists and pianists to also play the drum lines. He sang with an unmistakable griot vocal style, in particular, using the tasso, a kind of rap, the bakou trilling, and a type of griot scat singing. In addition, N Dour used contemporary African-American and western popular styles more generally. Yet N Dour is a cosmopolitan grounded in his own culture. Even when he explores styles from elsewhere his musical roots are present. Youssou N Dour s entry into the global arena of World Beat has been accompanied by active participation in several international humanitarian projects. In 1985, he

9 Human Right Now! 2000 Live8 JOKO organised a concert for the release of Nelson Mandela. In 1988, he became an advocate and leading performer for the worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour, in which he collaborated with Lou Reed to create a new version of Peter Gabriel s song Biko. This song was later featured on the Amnesty international benefit album The Secret Policeman s Third Ball. He has also worked with the United Nations, UNICEF, the International Red Cross, the Jubilee 2000 Committee for the cancellation of Third World debt, the United Nations anti-landmine campaign, and is now an active supporter of the FAO s fight against hunger. He performed at three of the Live 8 concerts and was awarded the Chevalier de l ordre national du mérite du Sénégal for his humanitarian activities. In alliance with Hewlett-Packard and Senegal s telecommunications services provider he started the Project Joko to open internet cafés in Senegal with the aim of broadening access to social and economic opportunities and to connect Senegalese communities around the world. In an interview with the BBC, Youssou N Dour said: Sometimes I feel like a missionary. I have a mission to develop something, to bring people together, bring things together, to make things happen at home. Social references infuse his music, a practice no doubt inherited from the griot tradition. A notable example is Toxiques, from the album Set, which protests at the international malpractice of using developing nations as dumping grounds for toxic wastes. His songs also question the extent to which true independence has been achieved by African nations in post-colonial times. Yet his quest for advancing social dialogue and political righteousness is complemented by spiritual themes such as propriety, devotion, and the lives of religious saints that permeate his music. While the messages in N Dour s music might strike some as affected, in the end one is persuaded to believe in his message. For N Dour s music is far from self-important; it is uplifting, positive, dance worthy and a down-to-earth reflection of an individual that seeks to become a global citizen while remaining deep-rooted in his homeland. Manolete Mora teaches ethno-musicology at the University of Hong Kong and performs both Cubanbased music and Balinese gamelan music.

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