Showing Archived Posts

Two Big Cissoko Releases

Posted January 7th, 2014 at 6:47 pm (UTC-4)
3 comments

Sousou Cissoko and her husband Maher Cissoko are a musical couple who definitely drum, or more appropriately strum to their own beat. In 2011 I saw them perform in Mali and admired the way they captured their audiences. Their music was tight and original too, but we didn’t meet back then so I was excited […]

Posted in Senegal

Yandé Codou Sène, R.I.P.

Posted August 4th, 2010 at 5:31 pm (UTC-4)
4 comments

On July 15, while much of the planet was still recovering from World Cup fever, the news came from Dakar that Yandé Codou Sène, one of Senegal’s greatest traditional singers, had passed away. Known for her long association with the late President Léopold Sédar Senghor and for her commitment to Serere culture, Yandé Codou was […]

Posted in Senegal

The Hard Mbalax of Ouzin Ndiaye

Posted April 28th, 2010 at 9:16 pm (UTC-4)
8 comments

Most articles on Senegalese music identify Youssou N’Dour as the man who put the mbalax rhythm on the map, who created an internationally identifiable Senegalese musical ‘brand’. And while Youssou’s many accomplishments can never be underestimated, his music remains somewhat atypical, more soigné than the ‘hard mbalax’ that packs Dakar’s dance floors weekend after weekend. […]

Posted in Senegal

Sufi Sounds, volume two

Posted September 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 pm (UTC-4)
10 comments

Any discussion of Sufism in Sub-Saharan Africa has to include, if not start in, Senegal. Perhaps nowhere on the continent are Sufi Brotherhoods as pervasive as they are in Senegal, where the different orders are a part of national politics, many sectors of the economy, popular fashions, traditional and contemporary art, sports, and popular music. […]

Posted in Senegal

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About

Heather Maxwell produces and hosts the award-winning radio program “Music Time in Africa” and is the African Music Editor for the Voice of America. Heather is an ethnomusicologist with Doctorate and Master’s degrees from Indiana University specializing in African Music. She is also an accomplished jazz and Afrojazz/Afrosoul vocalist and has been working, researching, and performing in Africa and the U.S. since 1987.

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