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Youssou N'dour - Nothing's in vain - 02 Moor Ndaje
Identifier
025621
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Telegraph - Supernatural superstar; Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour has returned to his roots and rediscovered the spirit he lost in Western music - Mark Hudson 12:01AM GMT 12 Dec 2002
I first encountered N'Dour's music while living in Gambia - Senegal's smaller, English-speaking neighbour - in the 1980s. N'Dour, still in his mid-twenties, was already the region's number one star …. while still a teenager and whose dashing personality and extraordinary neo-Islamic wail had given him an influence to rival that of the country's president and religious leaders.
At the same time, he had begun to perform in Europe, where his explosive blend of funk, jazz, latin and traditional Senegalese rhythms drew the attention of Sting, Paul Simon and most notably Peter Gabriel.
N'Dour can be frustrating to interview - always courteous, but so diplomatic you know you're barely scratching the surface. But tonight, as he sits relaxing in his tour bus before the concert, I feel I've finally got him to open up.
"Western record companies haven't always dealt with African musicians in the best way. Giving them a lot of money and telling them they're going to be bigger than Phil Collins is the wrong way to do it!"