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.
A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, or musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition and is often seen as a leader due to their position as an advisor to royal personages. As a result of the former of these two functions, they are sometimes called a bard.
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.
Orchestra Baobab is a Senegalese band established in 1970 as the house band of the Baobab Club in Dakar. Many of the band's original members had previously played with Star Band de Dakar in the 1960s. Directed by timbalero and vocalist Balla Sidibé, the group featured saxophonists Issa Cissoko and Thierno Koité, two singers, two guitarists and a rhythm section with drums, congas and bass guitar. Since their formation, the band has predominantly played a mix of son cubano, Wolof music, and to a lesser extent Mande musical traditions. Following the deaths of Cissoko in 2019 and Sidibé in 2020, Thierno Koité has become the leader of the band.
Thione Ballago Seck was a Senegalese singer and songwriter in the mbalakh genre. Seck came from a family of griot singers from the Wolof people of Senegal. He first performed with Orchestre Baobab, but he later formed his own band, Raam Daan, of which he was a member until his death in 2021.
Africando is a musical project formed in 1992 to unite New York-based salsa musicians with Senegalese vocalists. Musicians from other African countries were later included under the name Africando All Stars.
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.
The Senegal national basketball team represents Senegal in men's international basketball and it is overseen by Federation Senegalaise de basketball, five time a gold medallist, a six time silver medallist, and a four time bronze medallist at the FIBA Africa Championship. Senegal was the first Sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the Summer Olympics Basketball Tournament.
Jason Hann is an American percussionist and DJ.
MAMADOU is a Senegalese music band. Originally called "Mamadou Diop and the Jolole Band", the group was founded in early 1998, later simplifying their name to "MAMADOU" in late 2000.
The Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame, or the OBMHoF, is a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 to celebrate, document and honour the legacy of the many top vocalists and musicians whose musical careers began in the metropolitan area of Omaha, Nebraska. It has a particular focus on African American music from North Omaha, and is committed to honoring Omaha's blues tradition from the 1920s to the present day. The OBMHoF holds induction ceremonies every two years that highlight, but are not limited to, classical, rhythm & blues, big band, jazz and gospel music.
Mamadou Diabaté is a Malian musician known for his work with the kora. He began playing quite early in his life, became known as a musician in the area of Mali in which he lived, and has since moved to the United States, recording several albums.
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.
Mamadou or Mamadu is a common given name in West Africa among predominately Muslim ethnic groups such as the Mandé and Fula peoples. It is a variant of the Arabic name Muhammad.
Dramane Kone is a master drummer and griot from Burkina Faso who rose to prominence in 1997 via his appearance in the award-winning Taali Laafi Rosselini epic documentary film Great Great Grandparents Music that featured vignettes of Dramane Kone's griot family life in west Africa. He specializes in the goblet-shaped hand drum called djembe. He is a member of the Dioula ethnic group.
Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté is a prominent Mandé kora player and jeli from Bamako, Mali. He is the 71st generation of kora players in his family and a son to Sidiki Diabaté.
The Barr Brothers is an indie folk band founded in Montreal, Quebec, consisting of two American brothers Andrew and Brad Barr as well as bassist Morgan Moore, pedal steel guitarist Brett Lanier, and harpist Eveline Gregoire-Rousseau.
Super Diamono or Super Diamono de Dakar, and later Omar Pene & Super Diamono and Omar Pene & Super Diamono de Dakar, was a ten-member band from Dakar, Senegal. It was formed in 1974 or 1975. Omar Pene was a founding-member, and the group was alternately led by the singers Mamadou Lamine Maïga and Musa Ngum. It started with traditional West African music, but quickly turned to an Afro-Cuban and pop-influenced sound. From 1977 they called their music "Mbalax-Blues". In 1979, Ismaël Lô, a co-founder of the group, rejoined the band as a guitar player, but soon left again for his solo career. Youssou N'Dour was also a member of the band which he joined when he was 15 years old. According to Billboard Magazine, it was Senegal's "first truly local pop style." Many of the former members who later became solo artists made their break-through from this band.
