Wasis Diop (born 1950) is a Senegalese musician of international renown, known for blending traditional Senegalese folk music with modern pop and jazz.
Born in Dakar, Senegal, the son of a Senegalese high official and member of the Lebou ethnic group, Diop left Senegal in the 1970s to study engineering in Paris, but once there turned to music, joining a fellow Senegalese musician, Umbañ U Kset, in forming the band West African Cosmos. Diop left the band in 1979 to start a solo career, and over the next decade achieved some small success, particularly in partnerships with singer Marie-France Anglade of Black heritage, [1] and jazz saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu. It was not until the early 1990s that his career began to take off, with the success of his first album, the soundtrack to the film Hyenes (which had been directed by his brother, Djibril Diop Mambety). Variety described his soundtrack to 2006's Daratt from Chad as "outstanding". [2]
More albums followed: No Sant in 1995, Toxu in 1998, and the compilation album, Everything Is Never Quite Enough in 2004.[ citation needed ]
Diop lives in Paris and writes much of his lyrics in French. Among English speaking audiences, he is probably best known for "African Dream", a single from No Sant which narrowly missed the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, [3] and "Everything is Never Quite Enough", which is featured on the soundtrack to the 1999 film, The Thomas Crown Affair . "Defal Lu Wor," his Wolof language cover of the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime", was included in a "special markets" CD, World is Africa, produced by Universal Music for Starbucks. [4]
His brother was film director Djibril Diop Mambéty. He is the father of French actress and filmmaker Mati Diop.
The Wasis Diop official's channel in youtube includes some tracks of the album "Sequences" - 2014, and the newest album "De la glace dans la gazelle" - 2021.
Djibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese film director, actor, orator, composer and poet. Though he made only two feature films and five short films, they received international acclaim for their original and experimental cinematic technique and non-linear, unconventional narrative style.
Arnold Antonin is a Haitian film director. A man of diverse careers, Arnold Antonin is known both inside and outside Haiti for his social, political and cultural commitment. He was honored for lifetime achievement with the Djibril Diop Mambety award at the International Film Cannes Festival in 2002. He received the Paul Robeson African Diaspora best film award at FESPACO in Ouagadougou in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He also received numerous awards and accolades at festivals for his documentaries and fiction movies. He was president of the Haitian Filmmakers Association (AHC) from 2005 to 2009.
"Plaisir d'amour" is a classical French love song written in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (1741–1816); it took its text from a poem by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794), which appears in his novel Célestine.
Trade unionism is a powerful force in the politics, economy, and culture of Senegal, and was one of the earliest trades union movements to form in Francophone West Africa.
Ben Diogaye Bèye is a Senegalese filmwriter, filmmaker, film producer and journalist. He was the assistant director of nearly a dozen Senegalese films, including Touki Bouki with Djibril Diop Mambety, Baks with Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama with Axel Lohman, and the co-screenwriter of the latter two.
The cinema of Senegal is a relatively small film industry which experienced its prime from the 1960s through to the early 1980s, but has since declined to less than five feature films produced in the last ten years. Senegal is the capital of African cinema and the most important place of African film production after its independence from France in 1960.
Senegalese literature is written or literary work which has been produced by writers born in the West African state. Senegalese literary works are mostly written in French, the language of the colonial administration. However, there are many instances of works being written in Arabic and the native languages of Wolof, Pulaar, Mandinka, Diola, Soninke and Serer. Oral traditions, in the form of Griot storytellers, constitute a historical element of the Senegalese canon and have persisted as cultural custodians throughout the nation's history. A form of proto-Senegalese literature arose during the mid 19th century with the works of David Abbé Boilat, who produced written ethnographic literature which supported French Colonial rule. This genre of Senegalese literature continued to expand during the 1920s with the works of Bakary Diallo and Ahmadou Mapaté Diagne. Earlier literary examples exist in the form of Qur’anic texts which led to the growth of a form African linguistic expressionism using the Arabic alphabet, known as Ajami. Poets of this genre include Ahmad Ayan Sih and Dhu al-nun.
Hyenas is a 1992 Senegalese film adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Swiss-German satirical tragicomedy play The Visit (1956), directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty. The intimate story of love and revenge parallels a critique of neocolonialism and African consumerism. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.
Hyenas or hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae.
Le Franc is a 1994 Senegalese short comedy film, directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty.
La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil is a 1999 Senegalese short drama film, directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty which premiered after his death in 1998.
Touki Bouki is a 1973 Senegalese drama film directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty. It was screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.
Yandé Codou, la griotte de Senghor is a 2008 Belgian-Senegalese documentary film written and directed by Angèle Diabang Brener and starring Yandé Codou Sène — two years prior to her death. The documentary is a portrayal of the life and work of Yandé Codou Sène, official griot to President Léopold Sédar Senghor, and one of the most influential Senegalese and Senegambian artists for decades despite not recording her first album until the age of sixty-five. The music is provided by Yandé Codou Sène, Wasis Diop and Youssou N'Dour.
Lingeer was the title given to the mother or sister of a king in the Serer kingdoms of Sine, Saloum, and previously the Kingdom of Baol; and the Wolof kingdoms of Cayor, Jolof, Baol and Waalo in pre-colonial Senegal. The word "Lingeer" means "queen" or "princess" in Serer and Wolof language. The Lingeer was considered the “great princess of royal courts.” These kingdoms utilized a bilineal system, as a candidate for kingship could not succeed to the throne if he was not a member of the reigning materlineage, and thus, the Lingeer's maternal lineage was highly significant. In similarity, a candidate could not succeed to the throne as king if he was not a member of the noble reigning patriclans. That was particular so among the Serer who retained much of their old culture, customs and traditional religion where women played a significant role compared to the Wolof who adopted Islam. Various Lingeers have been noted for their resistance efforts to colonial conquest.
Mati Diop is a French film director and actress. She won the Grand Prix at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for her feature film debut, the supernatural romantic drama Atlantics, and the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival for her second feature film, the documentary Dahomey. As an actress, she is known for her performance in the drama film 35 Shots of Rum (2008).
Mariama Barry is a Senegalese novelist, specializing in autobiographical fiction. Born in Dakar, she spent her teenage years in Guinea before settling in France, where she is also a practicing lawyer. Her first book, La petite Peule, was published in 2000, then in English translation in 2010 as The Little Peul.
No Sant is an album by the Senegalese musician Wasis Diop. It was released internationally in 1996.
Moustapha Ndoye was a Senegalese photographer, film director and screen writer.
Moussa Bathily is a Senegalese history teacher, journalist, film director and producer, screen writer, and novelist.