Album Review: Thiossane

Released this month, the debut album of veteran Senegalese musician Ablaye Ndiaye Thiossane has been a long time coming. Now 74 years old, his story - and the story of modern Senegalese music - begins in 1960, with independence and the emergence of Star Band.

Star Band formed as a celebration of Senegal's independence, taking as its symbol the green star of the new flag. The resident band of Dakar’s Miami Club, it found its defining sound a decade later in the rousing Wolof vocals of a teenage Youssou N’Dour. The early 1970s saw the development of the rival Club Baobab in Dakar, which gave an affordable music venue to the masses and challenged the primacy of Miami Club. Several ex-Star members made up the house band Orchestra Baobab which, frustrated by the increasingly elitist character of Star Band, sought to find new talent in the youth of Senegal. N’Dour, however, was more interested in the Western-influenced sound of mbalax, and it fell to Ablaye Thiossane - whose hit Talene Lamp Yi had been chosen as the theme for Dakar’s 1966 Arts Nègres Festival - to lead this new generation.

The Orchestra Baobab became a staple for Dakar and the surrounding region, and gave backing to many of the great Wolof and Afro-Cuban recordings. They had many hits of their own, with Coro Bay Samba, On Verra and Souleymane being among the most accomplished tracks to come out of Senegal. Thiossane's late debut is rooted in this rich, exciting period of musical history.

Whereas N’Dour drew inspiration from Europe, Ablaye Thiossane and the Orchestra Baobab looked to Cuba. It was a sound they heard on their doorsteps, with West Africa being a popular destination for travelling Cuban ensembles. Listening to Thiossane, one can imagine how inviting these slow Latin grooves would have been. Son, the music of Cuba, must have seemed a whole new approach to tropical heat: laidback yet infectiously danceable, and less frenetic and sweat-drenched than the mbalax sound.

With this album, Ablaye Thiossane fondly looks back to the golden age of Senegalese music. His voice isn’t as powerful as it was, but shines on gentler tracks like Lat Dior and Ndiaye Diatte Ndiaye. Talene Lamp Yi, the track that made him famous, has been re-recorded with little alteration and still resonates with the optimism that made it former President Léopold Senghor’s unofficial national anthem, while another upbeat number, Arawane Ndiaye, brings in some old hands from the Orchestra Baobab: sax player Thierno Kouaté and three of Thiossane’s five original backing singers.

Thiossane’s debut album may be 40 years overdue, but it’s nice to hear nothing’s changed.

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