Youssou N'Dour

radio3

Born 1 October 1959.

Youssou N'dour Eamonn McCabe/Redferns

Biography

Youssou N'Dour (born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, percussionist, songwriter, composer, occasional actor, businessman and a politician. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa. Since April 2012, he has been Senegal's Minister of Tourism and Culture.

N'Dour helped to develop a style of popular Senegalese music known in the Serer language as mbalax, which derives from the conservative Serer music tradition of "Njuup". He is the subject of the award-winning films Return to Goree directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud and Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, which were released around the world.

Wikipedia This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. If you find the biography content factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. Find out more about our use of this data.

Links & Information

Member Of

BBC Reviews

  1. From Senegal to the World: 80s Classics and Rarities 2012

    Review of From Senegal to the World: 80s Classics and Rarities

    Reviewed by Jon Lusk

    Unlikely to stand out beside more complete N’Dour compilation sets.

  2. Dakar – Kingston 2010

    Review of Dakar – Kingston

    Reviewed by Martin Longley

    A typically international project from the Senegalese star.

  3. Rokku Mi Rokku 2007

    Review of Rokku Mi Rokku

    Reviewed by Tim Nelson

    Youssou gives us a needlessly Westernised offering...

  4. Egypt 2004

    Review of Egypt

    Reviewed by Jon Lusk

    '...Egypt comes as a surprise. And a breath of fresh air.'

  5. Nothing's in Vain (Coono du reer)

    Review of Nothing's in Vain (Coono du reer)

    Reviewed by John Armstrong

    Senegalese superstar returns with album that uses traditional African instruments in...

Share this page

More BBC Music highlights

  1. BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend

In order to listen to track previews you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions.

Latest Tracks Played on the BBC

  1. Bandjoly Ndiaye

    BBC 6 Music | Gideon Coe 27/09/2012

     
  2. Genne

    BBC 6 Music | Gideon Coe 11/02/2010

     

Similar Artists

  1. Ismaël Lô

    Ismaël Lô

  2. Baaba Maal

    Baaba Maal

  3. Orchestra Baobab

    Orchestra Baobab

  4. Salif Keita

    Salif Keita

  5. We use data provided by The Echo Nest to recommend similar artists. Find out more about this information.

BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.