Djabote

Liner notes

I first met Doudou N’diaye Rose in 1984. I was on tour in Africa for the first time, and I could already feel this continent was magical, especially for a musician. For African people, dancing is as natural as breathing and the music is always around, as essential as the air. When we arrived in Dakar, Senegal after one month touring. I had already had a few experiences, more particularly in Zaire, that definitely changed my vision of music. Doudou was playing on the same stage before us, with twenty drummers, mostly his daughters and sons… I spent his whole concert staring at him and was really amazed by what I was hearing. All these drummers were really one, conducted by Doudou who appeared like some martial arts master. The music they were playing was obviously based on rhythm more than on harmony, but so developed that it sounded as rich and nuanced as a symphony. Then, during our show, I had the luck to play with Doudou standing right in front of me, eye to eye, for a few minutes , and I could feel he was giving me something important. It was like receiving in five minutes as much as I could have learned in several years. After this moment, my life  as a musician was definitely changed.

In November 1990 when I heard from Béatrice Soulé that Doudou had no recording contract, I decided to produce his first album as a gift to him and because I think he really is the most amazing rhythmatist on this planet. One week later I met him in Dakar, and in March 1991, we spent one week recording the album on the island of Gorée, with fifty drummers and eighty singers. The last day of the recording was Good Friday, in the middle of Ramadan, and under the full moon, fifty Muslim drummers and eighty Catholic singers playing, singing and dancing together, with a perfect mastery of their art and an amazing joy for living. All the X-Plorer crew involved in these recordings thank Doudou Ndiaye Rose and the musicians for the magical week they gave us.

ERIC SERRA

Composer and producer of all Luc Bresson’s film scores (Nikita, The Big Blue, etc), Eric has played bass with many major French artists, including Jaques Higelin who took him to Africa on all important tour of 1984.