USA: SENEGALESE MUSICAN YOUSSOU N'DOUR RELEASES HIS NEW ALBUM "JOKO" AND TALKS ABOUT AFRICA

Record ID: 227176

  • Title: USA: SENEGALESE MUSICAN YOUSSOU N'DOUR RELEASES HIS NEW ALBUM "JOKO" AND TALKS ABOUT AFRICA
  • Date: 26th December 2000
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) N'DOUR SAYING "When we don't have values, means you go back to your roots, you go back to your side, if you have values, you definitely try to break the values and say yes I am going to do that, I am going to do this(these) thing, modern things, if you don't have a value, you don't see anyt
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE7TY2M1ZR1MHV43CAXXLZXZFC
  • Story Text: Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour is an artist with a crucial voice in the changing sound in African popular music.
    His music is about values and believes and his album "Joko"
    talks about an Africa that is undergoing transformation.
    Senegalese Singer Youssou N'Dour has led the way for a new sound in global music in the last decade. Called Mbalax, it's a blend of the country's traditional percussion, mixed with Afro-Cuban flavors, Senegalese dance rhythms and occasional Sufi inspired chants.
    His most commercially successful song internationally was the trilingual "7 Seconds" with hip-hop singer Neneh Cherry.
    Youssou N'Dour said that his album Joko, was about Africa that was constantly moving, an Africa undergoing a transformation. "People think here that Africa is moving really modernly, and same time keeping a lot of roots thins, this is what I am trying to present in my music."
    N'Dour found an artful balance between Western and African elements in Joko.
    N'Dour also spoke of the challenges in breaking the cultural barriers in Music."When we don't have values, means you go back to your roots, you go back to your side, if you have values, you definitely try to break the values and say yes I am going to do that, I am going to do this(these) thing, modern things, if you don't have a value, you don't see anything and you come back to your side."
    He added that there were positives to having barriers as without them, there would be no progress.
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