Senegalese Music Selections: Mbalax and More

One of the mixtapes I made as part of the Music of Africa Mixtape Series is this one here highlighting 90 minutes of music from Senegal. If you're not familiar with Senegalese music this mix may prove to be a good introduction. Senegalese music is characterized by a high dramatic singing style (which will give you goosebumps) and what at first seems like an impenetrable wall of drums. Drums are very important in Senegalese music and the way they are played is a dense web of polyrhythms with a relaxed gait. The overall effect is one that is very exciting and sometimes heart-wrenching.

For this tape I didn't get around to creating a fancy cover, as my tape deck's dubbing function had ceased to work shortly after finishing a couple other mixtapes, which meant that I wasn't able to start making copies of it for anyone. I enjoyed doing it so much though, that I wanted to share it with you all. Here's the link:

Unfortunately, I only have the first half of the tracklist. I'm not sure what happened to the other half, it's possible I typed it in, but with some recent computer crashes, it may just not have been saved properly. So I've got the titles for the first half, and here they are.

Abdou Guite Seck  "Bess B"
Etoile De Dakar  "Doctor"
MAGAYE SECK  - "tegel ma youza"
Yves Niang - "Yow lay xalaat"
Super Jamono de Dakar - "Bass"
Assane Ndiaye - "Diambar"
Aziz Faye & Yatma Thiam "Naari Gorong Sing Sing"
Xalam  "Yumbèye"
Lankandia Cissoko  Kora Music