Imagine yourself at a bustling city market in Dakar. You can see the ocean, busy with fishermen loading and unloading their daily catch. You hear the sounds of rubble and trash being kicked along the side of the road by the breeze rolling off the water. People are bustling about, selling, trading, conversing, and performing their songs and rhythms. A pulse vibrates through the center spine of Dakar, the capital city of Senegal.
Dakar is one of the chief seaports on the western African coast. It is located midway between the mouths of the Gambia and Sénégal rivers on the southeastern side of the Cape Verde Peninsula, close to Africa’s most westerly point. Dakar’s harbor is one of the best in western Africa, protected by the limestone cliffs of the cape and by a system of breakwaters. The city’s name comes from dakhar, a Wolof name for the tamarind tree and the name of a coastal Lebu village that was located south of what is now the first pier.
Music runs through the blood of the people of Dakar. It’s impossible to live in such a vibrant city without adopting its rhythmic quality. That’s what these Sessions are all about: capturing that electricity and sharing it with the world to keep Senegal’s musical heritage alive.
