Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour [ jusun̩du ː ʀ ] ( born October 1, 1959 in Dakar ) is a Senegalese singer and composer, as well as Minister of Culture and Tourism in Senegal. He developed with today's popular music in Senegal, which is called in Wolof as mbalax. It is a blend of traditional griot percussion and praise songs of Senegal with Afro-Cuban arrangements. He is considered one of the most influential and successful artists of Africa.
- 5.1 albums
- 5.2 Compilations
Career
Youssou N'Dour was the lead singer of the Star Band, from the In 1979, the group Étoile de Dakar. N'Dour in 1983 went to Paris and named his new band, with which he appeared in Europe, Super Étoile de Dakar.
As part of the world music boom it has established itself in the 1990s on the Western market. Here he worked with, among others, with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Peter Gabriel and Wyclef Jean. His best known and most commercially successful single is 7 Seconds, 1994 recorded a duet with the Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, step-daughter of the trumpeter Don Cherry.
Since 1994, Youssou N'Dour is a regular guest at the Africa Festival in Würzburg. At the opening of the World Expo 2000 in Hanover, he gave a concert at the Expo Plaza in front of several thousand spectators.
The 2004 released album Égypte contains songs (some of Fathy Salama ), where Youssou praises his African- Islamic culture and calls for mutual understanding between religions.
Commitment
Social Commitment
In his native Youssou is a powerful cultural symbol character who actively devoted to social issues. In 1985, he organized a concert for the release of Nelson Mandela. Youssou N'Dour and his band sang in 1986, the fighter against apartheid with its own song. He joined in 1988 on the worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour and worked with the United Nations and UNICEF. He founded the Project Joko to open internet cafés in Africa and to connect people from Senegal worldwide.
On the Live 8 concert on July 2, 2005, he appeared in London and Paris in a duet with Dido. He organized which takes place on 12 and March 13, 2005 Concert Live Africa, in the Senegalese capital Dakar occurred in some of the most renowned African musicians. The concert was part of the campaign "Roll Back Malaria " and supports the fight against the disease malaria, which still millions of people, especially in Africa fall victim.
In Music & messages concert of the initiative Your voice against poverty on 7 June 2007 in Rostock he was involved among other stars such as Bono, The Die Toten Hosen and The Fantastic Four. The concert took place at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.
Since May 2007 he is also council member of the World Future Council and is committed to the rights of future generations.
Political commitment
Beginning of January 2012 gave N'Dour announced that he wanted to compete against the previous incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in the upcoming Senegalese presidential elections in February of the same year. However, the Constitutional Court was the end of January candidacy N'Dour's not because he had presented only 8900 valid signatures instead of the required 10,000. At the same time Abdoulaye Wade was allowed to vote, even though the Senegalese Constitution a third candidacy really does not provide. This resulted in Dakar street battles between opposition protesters and the police. N'Dour, who himself spoke of nearly 13,000 signatures obtained, at first planned to appeal against the decision, but then supported the eventual winner of the election, Macky Sall. On April 4, 2012, he was appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism in the Cabinet.
End of February 2012, signed N'Dour at a meeting with Jo Leinen, the call of the international campaign for a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations.
Movies
The film Retour à Gorée / Return to Goree, German title "Return to Goree " from 2006 is a documentary in which Youssou N'Dour with other musicians a trip to one of the largest slave trading centers, the island of Gorée undertakes to looking for musical roots of jazz, among others. In the course of journey Youssou N'Dour writes new songs, influenced by the impressions of the trip. The film ends with a memorial concert at the atrocities of slavery on the island of Gorée.
Another film project N'Dour is the movie Amazing Grace by 2007. This deals with the beginning of the anti-slavery movement in Britain. Youssou N'Dour plays the role of Olaudah Equiano in the movie. This is one of the most prominent people of African descent within the British parliamentary debates against the slave trade end of the 18th century.