Youssou N’Dour of Senegal is the most trilling, fascinating
and successful African musician alive! This Grammy-Award winning artiste is an
intelligent businessman who owns a nightclub, a record label and a television
station.
He was born in Dakar to
a Wolof mother and a Serer father on 1st October, 1959. He started
performing at age 12, and was performing regularly with the Star Band, Dakar's most popular group during the early 1970s.
He is one of the most celebrated African musicians in
history.
N’Dour’s mix of traditional
Senegalese Mbalax with eclectic influences ranging from Cuban Rumba to Hip Hop, Jazz and Soul won him an international fan base of millions. His
work absorbed the entire Senegalese musical spectrum, often filtered through
the lens of genre-defying rock or pop music from outside Senegalese culture.
Youssou
N’Dour wrote and performed the official anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with Axelle Red "La Cour des Grands". Folk Roots magazine described
him as the African Artist of the Century. He toured internationally for thirty
years. He won his first American Grammy Award (best contemporary world music album) for his CD “Egypt” in 2005.
N’Dour is the owner of “L'Observateur” one of the
widest-circulation newspapers in Senegal, the radio station RFM (Radio Future
Medias) and the TV channel TFM.
In his four decades career
in music recording and performance, N'Dour has collaborated with several great
world renowned musicians such as Peter Gabriel, Axelle Red, Sting, Alan Stivell, Bran Van 3000, Neneh Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, James Newton Howard, Branford Marsalis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dido, Lou Reed, Bruce Cockburn and others.
CITATION FOR YOUSSOU N’DOUR
In 1979, Youssou N’Dour formed
his own ensemble, the Étoile de Dakar. His early
work with the group, in the Latin style, was popular all over Africa during
that time.
In the 1980s, he developed a
unique sound with his ultimate group, Super Étoile de Dakar featuring Jimi Mbaye on guitar, bassist Habib Faye, and tama (talking drum) player Assane Thiam.
By 1991 he had opened his
own recording studio, and,
In July 1993, Africa
Opera composed by N'Dour premiered at the Opéra Garnier for the French Festival Paris quartier
d'été.
In 1994 N'Dour released his
biggest international hit single, the trilingual "7 Seconds", a duet sung with Neneh Cherry.
By 1995, he established his
own record label, Jololi.
In 1998 N’Dour wrote and
performed the official anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with Axelle Red "La Cour des Grands".
In 2002 N'Dour was honoured
with a Prince Claus Award, under
that year's theme "Languages and transcultural forms of expression".
In 2006, N'Dour played the
role of the African-British abolitionist Olaudah Equiano in the movie Amazing Grace,
which chronicled the efforts of William Wilberforce to
end slavery in the British Empire.
In 2011, N'Dour was awarded
an honorary doctoral degree in Music from Yale University.
From April 2012 to September 2013, he was Senegal's Minister
of Tourism.
In 2013, N'Dour won a share of Sweden's $150,000 Polar music
prize for promoting understanding between faiths as well as for his music.
