Career
Julia launched her singing career based on West Africa's polyrhythmic signatures rooted in her Serer heritage [2] with Fela Kuti (Fela Anikulapo Kuti) who was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer as well as the pioneer of Afrobeat music. [3]
Julia became one of the most sought-after backing vocalist in Paris where she has lived for over twenty years working with artists like Jean-Jacques Goldman, Michel Fugain, MC Solaar, Julio Iglesias and the celebrated Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour. [4]
For several years, Julia Sarr had shared the stage and studio with the Congolese singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Lokua Kanza. [5] She has also worked with Jean-Claude Petit (the French composer and arranger) singing in a cappella in his score for Raoul Peck's film Lumumba (2010) starring Eriq Ebouaney.
After nurturing her solo aspirations and songwriting quietly for years, Julia partnered with Patrice Larose, a flamenco-inspired French guitarist with whom she has released an album titled "Set Luna" [5] (on the No Format! and Universal Jazz labels in Europe and on the boutique label Sunnyside Records in the United States). [1] "Set Luna", from the Wolof language translates to "So I’ve Observed" which they performed in the United States at the Carnegie Hall on 24 October 2005 to great reviews. [6]
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine described him as, "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa. From April 2012 to September 2013, he was Senegal's Minister of Tourism.
Senegal's music is best known abroad due to the popularity of mbalax, a development of Serer conservative njuup music and sabar drumming popularized internationally by Youssou N'Dour.
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the pioneer of Afrobeat, an African music genre that combines traditional Yoruba percussion and vocal styles with American funk and jazz. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers". AllMusic described him as a "musical and sociopolitical voice" of international significance.
Mamadou "Jimi" Mbaye is a Senegalese guitarist best known for his work with Youssou N'dour. Mbaye has developed a unique Senegalese guitar style in which he makes his Fender Stratocaster sound like local instruments such as the kora or xalam.
Mbalax is the national popular dance music of Senegal and the Gambia. In the 1970s, mbalax emerged as the distinctive sound of postcolonial Senegal. Derived from a fusion of indigenous Wolof sabar drumming with popular music principally from the African diaspora and African popular music, and to a lesser extent Western pop and afropop. Although the fusion of indigenous music with urban dance musics from the diaspora and west is not new, the pan-ethnic quality of urban Wolofness provided a space for the inclusion and representation of a plethora of ethnic sounds of the Pulaar/Tukulor, Sereer, Soce, Mande and other groups from the Greater Senegambia Region. The name mbalax derives from the accompanying rhythms of the Wolof sabar and was coined by Youssou N'Dour even though, as he has stated, there were many other groups in urban Senegal fusing these traditional sounds with modern musics.
Ashley Maher is a Canadian singer and songwriter who has meshed the rhythmic impulses of West Africa and Latin America with Western song structures.
Alioune Mbaye Nder is a Senegalese singer. Nder takes his name from the n'der, the drum favoured by his griot father.
Cheikh N'Digel Lô is a Senegalese musician.
Habib Faye was a bassist, keyboardist, guitar soloist, arranger, composer and Grammy-nominated producer from Senegal. He was mostly known as the musical director for Youssou N'dour's Super Étoile de Dakar. He was one of the most talented African bassists of the last quarter-century.
Knitting Factory Records is an independent American music label that is notable for promoting a variety of artists, including the music of deceased Nigerian political activist Fela Kuti. The label promotes a variety of music artists including Ages and Ages, Ash Black Bufflo, Cuong Vu, Graham Haynes, Femi Kuti, Gary Lucas, Lumerians, Thomas Chapin, Patrolled By Radar, Joe Morris, Rachid Taha, Seun Kuti, and Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers.
Egypt is a Grammy Award-winning album by the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour, on which he is accompanied by the Egyptian Fathy Salama Orchestra. By incorporating Arabic influences and focusing on Muslim religious themes, the album was a departure from previous N'Dour releases. In the original Senegalese release, it was named Sant Allah.
Jean-Philippe Rykiel is a French composer, arranger, and musician, primarily a keyboard player. He has been blind since his birth, a result of negligence in the hospital incubator, and is the son of fashion designer Sonia Rykiel.
Sylvain Luc is a French jazz guitarist.
Star Band is a music group from Senegal that was the resident band of Dakar's Miami Club. They, along with the many off-shoots of the band, are responsible for many of the crucial developments in Senegalese popular music. They were formed in 1959 by the owner of the Miami Club, Ibra Kasse. As was typical in Africa at the time, Kasse owned the instruments and was the band leader of the Star Band although he only occasionally played piano. Each one of the band's twelve albums released in Senegal featured a photo of Kasse on the back cover stating that he was the band leader, composer and arranger.
The Gabonese people have forged since the independence of the country, in 1960, their own culture which is neither the traditional culture of the different ethnic groups which compose it, nor modern Western culture. It is a culture in movement, a mixture of diversity and common traits, bringing together the most diverse beliefs and practices.
Cheick Tidiane Seck is a Malian musician, arranger and composer. He has written for and played with world-famous African and jazz bands as well as musician Damon Albarn and Mamadou Diabate.
Titi, also known by her real name Ndeye Fatou Tine, is a singer from Senegal. Her name of Titi comes from a nickname given to her as a child by her uncle. She started her career as a dancer but was inspired by Youssou N'Dour and moved on to becoming a singer. As a dancer she performed with Papa Ndiaye Thiou and also appeared in music videos of Senegalese stars such as El Hadji Faye and Pape Djiby Ba.
Yandé Codou Sène was a Senegalese singer from the Serer ethnic group. She was born in 1932 at Somb in the Sine-Saloum delta and died on July 15, 2010 at Gandiaye in Sénégal. She was the official griot of president Léopold Sédar Senghor. Most of her music is in the Serer language.
The patronym Faye is one of the typical surnames of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. In French-speaking Senegal and Mauritania, and English-speaking Gambia, the surname is spelled Faye.
Marie Samuel Njie was a musician and singer, from, and popular in, The Gambia.
