- Title: SENEGAL-DOUDOU N'DIAYE ROSE Senegal mourns loss of master drummer N'Diaye Rose
- Date: 20th August 2015
- Summary: DAKAR, SENEGAL (AUGUST 20, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BODY OF SENEGALESE DRUMMER DOUDOU N'DIAYE ROSE BEING CARRIED INTO MOSQUE COURTYARD BY FRIENDS AND FAMILY
- Embargoed: 4th September 2015 13:00
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Senegal's Doudou N'Diaye Rose, one of Africa's master drummers and named a "living human treasure" by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2006, died on Wednesday (August 19) at the age of 85.
Local media did not specify the cause of Rose's death, however, saying only that he had suffered from an illness.
His death comes two days after the passing of another well-known Senegalese drummer and close friend, Vieux Sing Faye, on Monday from a lengthy illness.
Rose did not achieve as much recognition locally as he did internationally. His dream of creating an art school in Senegal was never realized due to a lack of support from the government.
Doudou N'Diaye Rose continued to play until his death, recently performing at the fourth edition of the Deggi Daaj International Music Festival in celebration of his 85th birthday on July 28 in Dakar.
"He performed with all generations of artists here in Senegal and abroad, too. He was an extremely well-known man internationally. He travelled the world, and simply put, I think that today Senegal has lost someone very important to the general culture. It truly is a huge loss," said Senegalese singer Omar Pene.
"He wanted a school names after him, and he told people to do something for him during his lifetime and not to wait until he death to name a school after him. He wrote to the authorities, but no one responded. I cannot understand how with a man of such culture, it is the Japanese who pay tribute and honour him, it is the United States Embassy, China, Switzerland, and Canada. Where are all the Africans? Now today he is gone, and you will see everyone gather here. You will see everyone come here. He needed this while he was alive. We didn't do it for him. This is the bitterness I have," said Senegalese rapper Simon Kouka.
"What I first remember about this man is his simplicity. He was a great monument, but was always a very discrete man, an incredibly simple man, very humble but fully committed to his culture, to African dignity," said Senegalese state minister to the president of the Republic Mbaye N'Diaye.
Doudou, whose real name is Mamadou, was widely known as a mathematician of rhythms. He founded the Drummers of West Africa orchestra with his many children and grandchildren, for which he was the lead drummer, in addition to a strictly female orchestra with his daughters and granddaughters called Les Rosettes.
N'Diaye Rose has enchanted audiences from Paris to Tokyo by beating his sabar or "tamtam", a Senegalese drum made out of cow or sheep skin originally used to communicate between villages.
Born into a family of "griot" storytellers, he has collaborated with U.S. jazz star Miles Davis and English rock band The Rolling Stones, once stunning an audience on the Goree Island off the coast of the capital Dakar by leading a group of 100 drummers in unison. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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