Videos | Voix du Fleuve : Voie de la Paix

CLIP FLEUVE SENEGAL

Disque: Image

THE ALBUM
VOICES OF THE RIVER: PATHWAYS TO PEACE

A collaborative musical work

The Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS), the basin organization bringing together Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Mauritania, has joined forces with the Geneva Water Hub and Milk Music to launch a call for musicians of the Senegal River basin inviting them to create a new collaborative work. This follows the " Symphony for water and peace », co-created in 2017 under the artistic direction of Milk Music by artists from 4 continents in order to bring the reflection of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace. Exceptional artists from the Senegal River have responded to this call:

Under the sponsorship of Baaba Maal , Milk Music brought together Daara J Family (Senegal), Fatoumata Diawara (Mali), Noura Mint Seymali (Mauritania), Sékou Kouyaté (Guinea) and Noumoucounda (Senegal). Each artist has composed an original piece recorded remotely – pandemic requires – between Dakar, Nouakchott, Milan, Paris and Bordeaux.

The album "Voices of the River: Pathways to Peace" was conceived as an invitation to the populations living along the Senegal River to come and talk with OMVS leaders, authorities in their country, experts and personalities within the framework of a project with the same title carried out by a coalition of partners. Baaba Maal , the sponsor of the project, is committed to mobilizing the populations for this dialogue. The album was released on March 22, 2022 (Milk Music/Believe).

These actors converged on the village of Mboumba, on the banks of the river, to hold these exchanges during the Festival à Sahel Ouvert in February 2022, and carried the local voices to Dakar within the 9th World Water Forum .

As a vector of development and peace, culture has an important role to play in the Sahel region, which is experiencing growing destabilization. We want this artistic collaboration to inspire and pave the way for cooperation and peace.

Disque: Text

Disque: Music Player

Voices Of The River: Pathways To Peace
on digital platforms

Focus Artistes

VOICES OF THE RIVER ARTISTS

BAABA MAAL

Title: Maayo Senegal

Born June 13, 1953 on the banks of the Senegal River in Podor in northern Senegal, Baaba Maal is a Senegalese singer and guitarist of Fulani origin. He learns to play Kora & and various traditional instruments within the group Lasly Fouta, before criss-crossing West Africa; with his friend griot and visually impaired Mansour Seck and 70 other musicians. After a stint in Paris where he studied Western music at the Conservatory and played with the Wandama group, he trained at Dakar in1985 the group Daande Lenol (the voice of the people) with Mansour Seck. Daande Lenol adds modern instruments such as keyboards and electric guitar to traditional sounds and popular vocals. A tour of Europe in 1990 makes it known to peter gabriel who will make him participate in his album Passion. Global success comes in 1994  with Fir in Fouta and the title African Woman. For three years, he went on world tours, including the first part of Santana in 1996 to wembley stadium in England, before recording Nomad Soul in 1998. His album Missing You (Mi Yeewnii) in 2001 is recorded near Dakar and reconnects with more traditional sounds. Great voice of Africa, his commitment goes far beyond the musical framework since he is today representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Baaba Maal is the only Senegalese artist invited to theCopenhagen 2009 climate conference. In 2016, he took part in the Johannesburg album by Mumford and Sons where he interprets the title If you want. In 2017, he received from the hands o Macky Sall, President of Senegal, the Arts Prize. In 2018, he participated in the soundtrack of the film Black Panther under the direction of Ludwig Goransson and contributes his vocals to many of the tracks on the album as the main theme of the Wakanda.

DAARA J FAMILY

Title: Senegal River

Since their beginnings in the 90s in Dakar, Faada Freddy and Ndongo D. work to create a bridge between their culture and the rest of the world. Their committed texts in Wolof, English or French have always carried the hope of a better world with unfailing optimism. Their music is born of a skilful mix between the secular traditions of the griots of Senegal and the musical genres which have influenced their very particular style, from the funk-soul of James Brown, to the rock-psyché of Pink Floyd, passing by the American hip-hop heavyweight Public Enemy and Bob Marley reggae. In live band formation, their hip-hop energetic echoes their social concerns: education, ecology, child protection. The group is committed to a true African identity, for future generations, and sets off with the ardor and urgency that gives the feeling of a mission to accomplish. In  more than 20 years of career and 1000 concerts around the world, they had the opportunity to perform in the first part of Wyclef Jean, Public Enemy and Mos Def in the USA, alongside Peter Gabriel during the Womad, with Africa Express and Damon Albarn in London and Lagos, at Trans Musicales de Rennes, at Solidays etc. Four albums were released between 1997 and 2010, including "Boomerang", winner of the best album award at the BBC World Award in 2003, which illustrates the extent of the group register and their incredible ability to bring together continents from Dakar to New York, from Paris to Kingston. Today, Daara J Family remains one of the flagship groups of the hip-hop scene from Africa and one of its best ambassadors. The duo has matured and between their respective solo projects, the two childhood friends Ndongo D and Faada Freddy, driven by the same enthusiasm as when they started and with a new creative impulse, are hitting the road again ! the first single Oyé released in early 2018 was Deezer selection ; followed by a remarkable featuring of the group on Give me Your Love by Thomas Broussard, playlisted on many radios. After many months of waiting, Daara J Family is finally releasing its new album “Yaamatele” January 31, 2020, with in particular a powerful featuring of Gael Faye.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA

Title: Dji l'Eau

The Malian Fatoumata Diawara (also called Fatou) was born in 1982. In 2002, she met the Malian musician and producer Cheikh Tidiane Seck who offered her to do the backing vocals on the albums he made for Oumou Sangaré (Seya) and Dee Dee Bridgewater (Red Earth). Fatou also takes part in the tours. On her return to France, pushed by Rokia Traoré who also encouraged her to play the guitar, Fatou played the role of Karaba in the musical Kirikou et Karaba. Fatou therefore learns the six-string as an autodidact and begins to write songs. She records demos on which she sings and plays all the instruments. Oumou Sangaré introduced her to the World Circuit label, the recording of her first album began and was released in October 2011. In January 2013, in response to the situation in Mali, Fatoumata Diawara brought together some forty renowned Malian musicians, including Amadou Mariam, Vieux Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté, etc., to record the song Mali Ko. In 2014 Fatoumata Diawara made a European tour with the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca, following which the two artists launched the album Live: At Home (Live in Marciac). The singer continues to participate in film projects such as that of Abderrahmane Sissako Timbuktu (2015), awarded at the  Césars and nominated for the Oscars and Cannes, in which she plays Fatou and is the title: “Timbuktu Fasso”. Today, the singer combines her solo concerts with various projects such as the Mali Blues tour, Matthieu Chedid musical project and his « Lamomali » tour, and his « Olympic Café Tour » project with the Moroccan singer Hindi Zahra.

NOURA MINT SEYMALI

Title: Elme Neama

Born in Mauritania, Noura Mint Seymali is an author, singer, composer and instrumentalist griot. She began her career at the age of 13 in the choirs accompanying her mother-in-law. She sings and plays ardîn, a traditional stringed instrument. She was born in Nouakchott, Mauritania, into a family of iggawin (Mauritanian griots). After her marriage to guitarist Jeiche Ould Chighaly, she formed a band with him in 2004. After the release of two albums, they returned to the studio to create the soundtrack for a new album, Tzenni, released in 2014 by Glitterbeat Recordings. The grouphas since performed successfully in many halls and festivals around the world.

NOUMOUCOUNDA

Title: Badjiwo

Noumoucounda Cissoko was born in Senegal, near the Malian border. His family and his father are the cradles and guardians of a high tradition of griots where music is a work of language and country. He was sent young to the National Conservatory of Senegal, in Dakar. There he learned harmony and discovered how to marry traditional instruments with those of modernity. For a long time he was a pillar of the cult Senegalese hip-hop group Positive Black Soul. In addition to singing and rapping, he plays the kora. He is a pure virtuoso and a scholar. Whether he's rapping or doing funk, he never ceases to sound perfectly traditional, like he continuously plugged into the souls of his ancestors. He is largely influenced by the music of Senegal and West Africa, but also by pop, rock, funk which he combines with the sounds of his kora. In his lyrics, he speaks of love and joy but also of the place of women in African society, of corruption or social injustices in his country-continent.

SEKOU KOUYATE

Title: Ye

Originally from Guinea and known as the master of the Kora, which he makes resonate in a modern way, Sékou Kouyaté expresses his art through this traditional instrument. At twelve, he adapted his kora by electrifying it and experimenting with fast riffs and distortions, inspired by funk and jazz.

It is on stage that the first meeting of this trio takes place, bringing together Sékou Kouyaté, virtuoso of the Kora and two members of the group Supergombo : Etienne Kermac (bass) and Wendlavim Zabsonré (drums).

Offering a creation of the moment, spontaneous and vibrant, imprinted with the Mandingo sounds of the Kora and all the influences of these three heterogeneous musicians with rich encounters.

The artistic direction and musical production of the project are carried out by MILK MUSIC, an independent label based in Bordeaux. The label has its own recording studios dedicated to discographic production and music for image. MILK MUSIC is also a producer of innovative musical events and projects, including "Voices of the River, Pathways to Peace", "Slowfest", and "Symphony for Water and Peace". This last project was co-created with 5 composers from countries participant in the Global High Level Panel on Water and Peace: Mich Gerber (Switzerland), Alune Wade (Senegal), Tarek Younis (Jordan), Carlos Guzman (Costa Rica) and Serge Frasunkiewicz (Brazil). The creation of the work followed the work of the panel (2016-2018). The work was performed for the first time live by the Blue Peace Orchestra in Geneva during the presentation of the panel's work at the UN in 2018. It has been performed regularly around the world by musicians from all walks of life since, a powerful symbol and inspiration to efforts to make water a source of cooperation and peace.

Website

THE ALBUM VOICES OF THE RIVER: PATHWAYS TO PEACE

Voices Of The River: Pathways To Peace on digital platforms

VOICES OF THE RIVER ARTISTS

Subscribe to the mailing list

THE ALBUM
VOICES OF THE RIVER: PATHWAYS TO PEACE

Voices Of The River: Pathways To Peace
on digital platforms