Mauritania

Abdoulaye "Laye" Sow is a Senegalese musician. Here is his beautiful track Mauritania:

ECOWAS

This acronym puzzled me for months (Echoas, Echoise, Eckowass, I tried them all). Today's a day to say "Aha!". From Wikipedia:

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries, founded on May 28, 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.

It was founded to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for the member states by means of economic and monetary union creating a single large trading bloc. The very slow progress towards this aim meant that the treaty was revised in Cotonou on July 24, 1993, towards a looser collaboration. The ECOWAS Secretariat and the Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development are its two main institutions to implement policies. The ECOWAS Fund was transformed into the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development in 2001. ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community (AEC).
The current President of the Commission is James Victor Gbeho. The current chairman is acting President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.
It operates officially in three coequal languages (English, French, and Portuguese).

Official Website.

Sore Sore

Born in 1970 in Senegal, Diogal Sakho is an author, composes and interprets his songs. Living in France, he released three albums: Samba Alla (2002) and Liir (2004), both produced by Celluloid/Melodie and endorsed by FIP Radio, and Li lan la, released in March 2008. Diogal has produced his last album and recorded it in his own studio, "Wasia".
From his Official Website.

I am currently addicted to Diogal's 'Sore'. Check out the live version here:

Diogal au Satellit Café : "Sore"
Uploaded by Studio_Wasia. - See the latest featured music videos.

Inch'allah

Our colleagues in Mauritius were extremely hospitable and helped us truly enjoy and experience the island. Among other things, they made many recommendations, taught us Creole phrases and shared music with us. I was particularly interested in the French numbers and this one is by far my favourite one they shared with me:



MC Solaar is the stage name of Claude M'Barali (born March 5, 1969), a francophone hip hop and rap artist. Claude M'Barali was born in Dakar, Senegal to parents of Chadian origin. When he was six months old his parents immigrated to France. He is famous for his wordplay... his official website is called SolaarSystem!!

Inch'allah is one of the catchiest songs I've ever heard and I love the frequent reference to the Maghreban robe, the Djellaba.

Goodbye Solo

Souleymane Sy Savane (Solo) and Red West in GoodBye Solo

Goodbye Solo is a film about a Senegalese cab driver (Solo) who encounters an aged man determined to commit suicide. Solo is also determined - to dissuade him. He tries hard to befriend and help him. Solo is a gentleman, a kind and loving person who embraces life and its hardships. As an immigrant working hard to make ends meet for his blossoming family, Solo's view of life is radically different and he struggles to understand William (Red West)'s decision.

Through the film, Solo talks fondly of life in Senegal, often breaking into (and muttering to himself in) French. Directed beautifully by Ramin Bahrani, the film is subtle, yet thought provoking and deeply moving.

Mama Afrika

Toto’s Africa is undoubtedly a beautiful song (lyrics here). Apparently, Oumar Sall of Tukuleur thought so too. Here is his version (lyrics here), a beautiful piece:

I learnt from Wikipedia that Oumar, who was brought up in France, was amazed by the beauty of Senegal when he finally went back to learn more about his African roots. Oumar studied African Languages at the University of INALCO in Paris and now performs in a variety of languages including Fulani, Wolof, Mandingue, Soninke, French, English and Spanish! There are more than more than 1,000 indigenous African languages including several spoken by tens of millions.