When early eighties the first Youssou N’Dour LP, ‘Immigrès/Bitim
rew’ reached me, I was astonished. What a different sound. After
some digging I found the LP he worked on before that, ‘Absa Gueye’.
Listen and find out what a treasure this is. Years later I went to a
Youssou N’Dour concert in ‘Nighttown’ Rotterdam, It was great
and as I left the building, some of the band’s people were selling
‘tama’s’ ( talking drums )at the corridor. 200 Dutch Guilders they
asked( in those days ), quite some money I thought. They were
friendly pushing me to buy the drum and told me they were made
by ‘Assane Thiam’, Youssou’s Tamaplayer. Wow, now I got really
interested, these were fine pieces of handicraft by the great ‘Assane’.
I said ;” okay, I’ll buy one if you have it signed by Youssou N’Dour”,
and so it went. LUCKY BASTARD I AM !The guy went away
with the talking drum and within 3 or 4 minutes he was back with
it, signed on one side by Youssou N’Dour, and on the other side
by ‘Assane Thiam’. To our surprise the whole group was sitting at
the nextdoor snackbar later, having fun and in a very relaxed
atmosphere, they were giving autographs
to everybody, supernice.
tracks;
1 Dom sou nare bakh
2 Jalo
3 Absa gueye
4 Mane kouma khol thi yao
5 N’guiro na
6 Baye wali
7 Esta China
8 Tu veras
I love this instrument, the talking drum! Djeredjef as they say in Senegal!
Yes,an authentic Tama-gog with caiman skin congratulations,I only could get one for tourist with goat skin.
But will be you so kind to gift us the back of the photo album,please?
I would love to see the credits with the composition of the band.
I am really enjoying these gifts, many thanks.
Insist on the perfect sound, I am really surprised that the mp3 can play with so quality the sound of a vinyl, I can hear the silence between the instruments and the voice separated from the rest of the band,fantastic.
I am glad you like it,
the backcover pic was sent to you by mail, cheers.
So kind the posting, so great the music. Many thanks are given for your generosity of sharing great music, the rarely heard early Youssou before the fame, the sales. Much thanks.
That’s a great story about the tama! I was there too in Rotterdam, Nighttown (can’t remember the year). I took a few black and white photo’s of Youssou, I was right in front of the stage.
Great blogsite you have, I just stumbled upon it and I have downloaded the Ndiadiane Ndiaye album; I have the vinyl LP, but I am very happy to have it digital now! Greetings, Peter from Groningen
I love this album. “Tu veras” is my favorite track. Thanks so much.
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