THIATO THIATE' by DOU DOU N'DIAYE M'BENGUE (Senegal )

Hailing from Senegal in West Africa - a seemingly inexhaustable well of great musicians - isy, DOUDOU N’DIAYE M’BENGUE. An artist with an impressive track record, DOUDOU began his career at a very early age. Coming from a family of griot musicians proved too be of great help in developing his manifold artistic gifts gifts which, as you can hear on his latest album Thiato thiate, are truly remarkable. The album sees DOU DOU in the dual role of singer and percussionist performing a repertory of pieces rooted in the best of Senegalese tradition.
The vocals on this album come over with great purity and clarity, in the shoutier passages as in quieter moments, while the accompanying playing is discreet and to the point, enveloping the songs rather than stifling them through excessive showiness. But it’s the voice unfolding in all its nuances that underpins the whole edifice of Thiato thiate, and which is what makes Senegalese music in general so special.
Refusing the techno-banality that swamps so much current World Music, Thiato thiate, wins over the listener through the warm, communicative sinceritys of the songs, which far from being pre-confectioned are the fruit of daily contact with the people they are addressed too: African music is often music for special occasions (such as weddings, religious cermonies, rites and festivals.) moments that are DOUDOU’s greatest source of inspiration for his burgeoning and astonishing repertory.
Born in Dakar in 1963 DOUDOU N’DIAYE M’BENGUE is the son of the highly respected griot Bala Nar M’Bengue. In 1977 he joined the Takarnase orchestra and subsequently became a leading figure in the ’Orchestre Djaloré and then in the Orchestre Nationale du Senegal as principal vocalist. Numerous concerts and recordings followed, among which his fruitful collaboration with Finnish musician Hasse Walli in the 1997 album Yakaar.
By that time the Ridial Group, the band DOUDOU N’DIAYE M’BENGUE had formed in 1994, had been going for three years, building up a repertory of more internaltional sounds and using electric instruments as well as traditional ones. DOUDOU continues to move between past and future in shaping his musical world, a world to which Thiato thiate provides the ideal introduction.