Music Podcast: Daby Balde
By Matt Yanchyshyn
Daby Balde is from Senegal, though I have to confess I never heard about him while I lived there. The album’s liner notes claim that he has been “long celebrated at home,” but I’m not so sure he’s super popular locally. This is true for a lot of Senegalese artists, Youssou N’Dour excepted, who produce music that appeals to audiences outside of the country. People like Daby Balde, Cheikh Lô, Pape and Cheikh and others play acoustic mbalax and fula sounds that appeal more to world music enthusiasts in North America and Europe than to hip-hop and pop mbalax-hungry local youth.
Regardless, Daby Balde is a super-talented musician and his debut international release, Introducing Daby Balde, is a great album. He combines acoustic guitar in that West African style I so love with Senegalese Fulani rhythms and vocals, kora and violin. Distinctly West African, almost contemporary Malian sounding, but still really appealing to Western ears.
Yanchyshyn is a correspondent for the Associated Press (AP) in West Africa. He is also a connoisseur and an expert on music of African origin. He blogs at mattgy.net