Xalam 2

Last updated

Xalam 2, also known as Xalam and Xalam II, a Senegalese musical group, founded in 1969 by a group of friends. [1] The band was originally called African Khalam Orchestra.

Contents

The band takes its name from the xalam, a lute-like instrument. Xalam performed a mix of contemporary jazz tunes as well as African mbalax originals, usually sung in Wolof, the dominant local language; [1] although the leading artists are all Serer and Toucouleur. The band included sax, drums, African percussion, bass and electric guitar.

History

Beginnings

Xalam started playing dance music, such as rock, salsa, bossa, and rhythm and blues. The group performed in Senegal and other countries in Africa. Numerous musicians have played in the group and through their collaboration, have become popular.

In 1975, they went on an African tour with Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba. [1] Later, the group decided it was time to find its own musical identity and left the stage for four years to look for inspiration in traditional folk music and mix it with their own modern music.

In 1979, Xalam made a guest appearance at the Horizonte – Festival der Weltkulturen der Berliner Festspiele . [2] That first trip to Europe was their opportunity to record Ade, their first LP.

1980s

In 1981, Xalam recorded music for the soundtrack of the Epcot African Pavilion videotape in Dakar for the Disney Corporation, to be used at their Epcot site in the US. They also performed at the Dakar Jazz Festival and jammed with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, and others. In the early 1980s, the band moved to Paris, France, where they became regulars on the local music scene. Prosper died in the mid-1980s, replaced on drums by his younger brother, who had been the drummer for Senemali, another Senegalese group which had moved to Amsterdam.

In June 1982, the group was revealed to the French public at Paris Africa Fête. Then, band recorded the following LP, Gorée, in London. The band was so impressive that The Rolling Stones invited the percussionists to play on their next album Undercover of the Night . [1]

A European tour followed in 1983, Xalam opened for Crosby, Stills & Nash in Paris (Hippodrome d'Auteuil). [1] With the release of the LP Gorée, the album reached the Top 5 (African, Reggae, and Folk albums) published in Le Monde for five months.

1984 found the band writing the music for the French movie Marche à l'Ombre [3] (over 5,000,000 spectators), followed by 150 concerts starting in Switzerland and ending in Paris.

Xalam opened for Robert Plant at the Palais des Sports in Paris, France, in 1985.

In 1986, they performed three concerts at the Cirque d'Hiver, then continued on an international tour of more than a hundred gigs to support the release of Apartheid, including the Francofolies of La Rochelle, the Festag in Guadeloupe, and a long winter tour in Africa.

A Canadian tour followed in 1987, including Montreal, Toronto, and Québec. Xalam also performed at the Printemps de Bourges in France and then recorded the LP Xarit in Paris.

In 1988, they played a Parisian concert at The Wiz, a performance at the Paris Africa Fête, then a show in Geneva, Switzerland (in front of 30,000 people), to aid the Helping Hand Cooperation for the N’Dem village in Senegal. The LP Xarit was released, followed by a tour of Austria, Tunisia (Carthage Festival), and Japan (Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo and Ngoya). Then, they performed at the Anti-Apartheid Night: "Hommage à Nelson Mandela" in Paris, at the Champ de Mars (in front of 25,000 people), and a concert at Montreux Casino.

1990s

Between 1989 and 1992, Xalam played various concerts and venues including The Midem in Cannes: concert at the Hotel Martinez, two concerts at the New Morning and La Cigale in Paris; a tour of Africa in 1990, then two concerts at the Auditorium des Halles, Paris; in 1991, a tour of Switzerland and Germany, and back to Switzerland for ten gigs, before recording the next LP Wam Sabindam.

A 1993 French tour warmed up the public for the release of Wam Sabindam in September, followed by a Swiss tour (Arthur’s Club, Emmenthaler Thoune, Le Locle, Chapiteau Sambaille), and another in the spring of 1994 (Case à Chocs, Albani, Bus Stop, Mad, Kantonsschule, Mühle Hunziken). They went to the US that summer, performing at the 25th Anniversary Woodstock Festival (in front of more than 500,000 people), and an English tour, including the Heathrow Festival. After a few shows in 1995 (i.e., Festival in Senegal with RFI (Radio France; the French Cultural Center), the band took a break.

Xalam returned to the stage in 1999 in Switzerland for Le Locle Jazz Festival; a 2001 club tour in Paris, France (Baiser Salé, Petit Journal Montparnasse, etc.); a 2002 European Tour (Belgium, Switzerland, France); a Festival Tour in France in 2003; and a tour of France and Spain in 2004.

2000s to present

The band took another break, with some members leaving to pursue various solo projects (i.e., Taffa Cissé composing and playing with Jean-Luc Ponty, for theatrical pieces and clinics; Brahms with Manu Chao, Cheikh producing, composing and arranging with local musicians in Dakar; Henri producing and arranging, as well as managing the Quai des Arts in St. Louis, Senegal; Baye becoming involved planning events at a music center in Saint Germain en Laye, France, while playing with a jazz trio; Souleymane leading a successful solo career in Dakar).

In late 2008 and early 2009, the band made a comeback, with concerts in Dakar, Senegal (Just4You, St. Louis Jazz Festival, Iba Mar Diop Stadium) and Burkina Faso. The reunion tour coincided with the re-release of Apartheid on CD and the first-time release of their live performance, the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1991 (Live à Montreux) on CD, and a Best of two-CD set 2A@Z, on which all tracks were entirely remastered. Xalam was working on a new studio CD, and a DVD release of the 29 April 2009 show at Iba Mar Diop Stadium. They continued to tour, with dates in Lebanon and Johannesburg, South Africa in September/October 2009, and in Dakar, where they worked on new concert dates and projects. In April 2010, the 50th Anniversary of the Independence of Senegal was marked by some special concerts/gala evenings for Xalam in Dakar, Saint-Louis, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

They returned to Paris in 2013 for some shows at Quai Branly and Baiser Salé.

Since then, Xalam has continued to tour and play shows in Africa, and were finally able to release their new CD, Waxati in 2015.

Discography

Albums

[4] [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youssou N'Dour</span> Senegalese politician and musician (born 1959)

Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa and in 2023, the same publication ranked him at number 69 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. From April 2012 to September 2013, he was Senegal's Minister of Tourism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Senegal</span>

Senegal's music is best known abroad due to the popularity of mbalax, a development of conservative music from different ethnic groups and sabar drumming popularized internationally by Youssou N'Dour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montreux Jazz Festival</span> Music festival in Switzerland

The Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimi Mbaye</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchestra Baobab</span> Senegalese band

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Cooper</span> English musician (1951–2013)

Lindsay Cooper was an English bassoon and oboe player and composer. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She collaborated with a number of musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote scores for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987. She also recorded a number of solo albums, including Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983), and Music For Other Occasions (1986).

Alhaji Bai Konte (1920–1983) was a jali from Brikama, Gambia. His grandfather, Jali Ndaba Konteh, was a Konting player who originally brought his family to Brikama from the Kankaba region of Mali. Bai Konte's father, Burama Konte, was also a celebrated kora player and composed several important pieces in the repertoire. Burama Konte, composed the anthem of the 19th century Senegambian hero Mansumaneh Yundum, Yundum N'ko. It was from that piece that the anthems of Sheriff Sidi Hydara and Nyansu Mbasse originated. Burama Konteh was a well-known kora player of his generation. Bai Konte was a regular on Radio Gambia and Radio Senegal's joint program called Chossani Senegambia in the 1970s. He and other griots such as Jali Nyama Suso and Alhaji Abdoulaye Samba used to play live music during the show. Bai Konteh had narrated many epics on that show including the epic of King Abdou Njie and his griot and advisor Ibra Faye. Prominent broadcasters of that show included Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof, Alhaji Assan Njie and Alhaji Mansour Njie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">17 Hippies</span> Band from Berlin, Germany

17 Hippies is a band from Berlin, Germany, playing largely on acoustic instruments, a radically democratic collective of professionals and amateurs. Their music is a confection of various folk influences. They are most popular in their native Germany and France.

Ashley Maher is a Canadian singer and songwriter who has meshed the rhythmic impulses of West Africa and Latin America with Western song structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lokua Kanza</span> Musical artist

Pascal Lokua Kanza, known professionally as Lokua Kanza, is a Congolese singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his soulful, folksy sound, which is atypical of the dancefloor-friendly African rumba music that is common in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His proficiency in blending different musical styles and cultural influences has made him a celebrated artist, admired for his distinctive and evocative musical creations. He sings in French, Swahili, Lingala, Portuguese, English, and Wolof. He was a member of the coaching panel of The Voice Afrique Francophone from 2016 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Positive Black Soul</span> Senegalese hip hop group

Positive Black Soul is a hip hop group based in Dakar, Senegal, one of the first such collectives in the country. Founded in 1989, the group is composed of Didier Sourou Awadi and Amadou Barry, both of whom had previously been in other hip hop groups. They perform in the English, French, and Wolof languages and use traditional Senegalese instruments as part of their songs. Political and social activism have played important roles in the group since it was founded.

Mamadou Konte was a Senegalese music producer and founder of the Africa Fête Music Festival and a leading figure behind the African and world music genres.

United Artists for African Rap is a collective of 17 hip hop artists coming from ten different countries in West Africa and who are committed to use their voices and music for Africa’s development. With the support of the Non Governmental Organization PLAN International, they are engaged in a public awareness campaign relating to Children’s rights and youth problems. With respect, they realized in 2006 the first ever hip hop musical comedy show “The extraordinary Stories of Poto-Poto Children”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isfar Sarabski</span> Azerbaijani pianist and composer (born 1989)

Isfar Rzayev-Sarabski is an Azerbaijani pianist and composer, winner of the Solo Piano Competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2009, Honorary Artist of Azerbaijan (2010), and receiver of the Zirva State Prize (2010). He is the great-grandson of Huseyngulu Sarabski, celebrated Azerbaijani opera singer, actor and one of the founders of opera in the Islamic world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saskia Laroo</span> Musical artist

Saskia Laroo, is a Dutch jazz musician who has been dubbed the "Lady Miles Davis". Her music style can be described as a combination of jazz, pop, electronic dance music, Latin and world music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moriarty (band)</span> Multinational band

Moriarty is a French-American musical group formed in 1995. It is a musical collective of five artists of French, American, Swiss and Vietnamese origin, who were mostly born in France to American parents. The group was named Moriarty in reference to Dean Moriarty, the hero of On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Dakar, Senegal.

Nicolas Julliard better known by his stage name Fauve is a Swiss musician and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crags</span> Musical artist

The Crags are a rock band based in Geneva, Switzerland, created in 2009. Their influences are mainly English-singing rock and pop music, going from vintage to actual sounding bands. The band is also known under its previous name "Drama" (2004–2009).

Warren Byrd is an Afro-American jazz pianist, vocalist and composer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2741. ISBN   0-85112-939-0.
  2. ↑ "Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique / Senegal : Xalam".
  3. ↑ "Marche à l'ombre (1984) - IMDb". IMDb .
  4. ↑ "Undercover of the Night".
  5. ↑ "Groupe musical " Xalam ": Recette et parcours d'un orchestre légendaire". 25 December 2021.
  6. ↑ "Le groupe Xalam en concert à Saint-Louis". 25 December 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.