Youssou N Dour Research Paper
Youssou N’ Dour was born October 1, 1959. He was born in Dakar which is located in Senegal. At the age of 12 is when he began to perform and eventually started playing with the star band (A popular band in Dakar at the time). Based off of the way that he was brought up, he saw his identity as modern griot. In 1979, he came up with his own group by the name of “The Etoile de Dakar”. This group was in Latin style and it was popular all over Africa. During the 90’s he opened his own recording studio and his own record label by the name of “Jololi”. This guy is so good that he is the most celebrated African musicians known in history. His fan base comes from his mix of styles. Some of his biggest accomplishments include writing and performing the
official anthem of the 1998 FIFA world cup “La Cour des Grands” along with winning his first Grammy in 2005 for his CD entitled “Egypt”, being awarded the honorary doctoral degree in music from Yale and being the proprietor for newspapers, a radio station and TV channel. Not only is he a musician but he’s also very actively involved in social issues. In 2012, he actually entered the presidential race as a candidate to become the president of Senegal, but was later disqualified from running. Before listening to his music I don’t know why, but I thought it was going to be hard core rock music but it’s not. His music is very catchy and when you hear the beat you immediately start to tap your feet because the beat is just so catching. All of his songs give me the same impression but a song of his called Senegal Reek makes me want to dance, specifically the dance that we learned in class the other day when we had our guest speaker. Now I decided to compare him to an artist by the name of Hugh Masekela. Although I did like Masekela’s music, I must admit I didn’t get what I was expecting. His music doesn’t give me the “African feel.” When I hear his music I immediately think of the blues because that’s what his music sounds like. It doesn’t jump out to me. The music is bland, boring and doesn’t make me want to dance or even tap my feet. This really surprised me. I really liked the music I heard from Dour and I will definitely be listening to more.
official anthem of the 1998 FIFA world cup “La Cour des Grands” along with winning his first Grammy in 2005 for his CD entitled “Egypt”, being awarded the honorary doctoral degree in music from Yale and being the proprietor for newspapers, a radio station and TV channel. Not only is he a musician but he’s also very actively involved in social issues. In 2012, he actually entered the presidential race as a candidate to become the president of Senegal, but was later disqualified from running. Before listening to his music I don’t know why, but I thought it was going to be hard core rock music but it’s not. His music is very catchy and when you hear the beat you immediately start to tap your feet because the beat is just so catching. All of his songs give me the same impression but a song of his called Senegal Reek makes me want to dance, specifically the dance that we learned in class the other day when we had our guest speaker. Now I decided to compare him to an artist by the name of Hugh Masekela. Although I did like Masekela’s music, I must admit I didn’t get what I was expecting. His music doesn’t give me the “African feel.” When I hear his music I immediately think of the blues because that’s what his music sounds like. It doesn’t jump out to me. The music is bland, boring and doesn’t make me want to dance or even tap my feet. This really surprised me. I really liked the music I heard from Dour and I will definitely be listening to more.