Wasis Diop - Biography
By J Poet
Wasis Diop, a Senegalese singer/songwriter now based in Paris, considers himself and international musician. He uses elements of African, Caribbean, Arabic, Asian, Black American and European music to create a cosmopolitan music that’s as much global pop as it is African. He’s only produced four official albums, but has been a prolific composer of film and TV soundtrack music in France.
Diop grew up in a middle class family in Dakar, Senegal’s capital and biggest city. His father was a government official and frowned on his son’s musical ambitions. Nonetheless, Diop grew up playing music and fell in love with the music of black America, soul, funk and jazz. He tried to play music professionally in Dakar but his family frown on his ambitions. “There is a proverb my family used to tell me,” he said in a recent interview. “‘He who has a noble spirit listens to music, but he doesn't play it.’” Diop put aside his ambitions and pursued a professional career as an engineer.
Diop moved to Paris in 1970 to go to university. Once there, he put together a jazzy instrumental combo called West African Cosmos with Umbañ Ukset. They toured all over Europe and recorded one album for CBS France, West African Cosmos (1975 CBS France). One of the singers in West African Cosmos was a lover of reggae, so Diop took a trip to Jamaica to check out the scene there. On his first day in JA, Diop met Lee Perry; he collaborated with Perry on several tracks Perry was making at the time, although Diop doesn’t know what happened to them.
In 1990, Diop began working with Amina Annabi, a Moroccan pop singer. He wrote “C'est le Dernier Qui a Parlé Qui a Raison (It Is the Last One Who Speaks Who Is Right)” for her; the song won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1991. He also produced several tracks on her debut album Yalil (1989 Island France). Annabi’s manager introduced Diop to Yasuaki Shimizu, a Japanese sax player who was moving in the direction of high concept international pop a la Ryuichi Sakamoto. Diop joined his band and toured Japan for two years.
After returning from Japan, Diop’s worked with his brother, Djibril Diop Mambety. Mambety’s Hyenes (1992), an adaptation of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s La Visite de la Vielle Dame was a hit, due in part to the compelling soundtrack music Diop created. The soundtrack album Hyenes (1993 Verve France) was cited for its blend of traditional drumming and dark electronic textures. On No Sant (1996 Mercury France, 1996 Triloka US) his solo debut, Diop's interest in Jamaican, Japanese, North American, and European music give the music an international slant. with Afro-Parisian blues, South African do-wop, Senegalese reggae, a song by Yande Kodou Sene, one of Senegal’s most respected traditional singers and guest vocals from Amadou et Mariam. For his next effort, Toxu (1998 Triloka, 1998), Diop transformed the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” into a traditional African chant, and sang “Father to Son,” in Senegalese and Afrikaans (white South African) to deliver an implicit message of universal brotherhood. As always, his guitar playing is impressive for its eclectic blend of influences.
Diop next returned to the studio for Judu Bék (2008 Wrasse Germany), another smooth combination of African, European and American impulses with his warm intimate vocals. It includes a startling reinvention of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as “L’ange Djibril” and some unexpected pedal steel guitar interludes. Still, he wasn’t exactly taking time off. He worked on a variety of Japanese, French, Brazilian and African TV and film soundtracks including Mahamat Saleh Haroun’s Darratt (2006). He was also the musical director for The Sahel Opera Project (2007) an ambitious pan-African music and dance extravaganza organized by Prince Claus of the Netherlands.