by Jean-Olivier Tchouaffe, PhD, Radio-Television Film, University of Texas at Austin
RETURN TO GOREE is a road documentary musical steered by Senegalese international superstar Youssou N’dour. Its goal is to highlight the continuum of African influences on the Blues, gospel, and jazz music throughout the Diaspora and back to the Motherland. Thus, N’dour’s trip takes him to Atlanta, New Orleans, New York, and Luxembourg before culminating in a majestic concert on the island of Goree (Senegal). His itinerary emphasizes the fact that, for centuries, musical influences between the Motherland and the Diaspora have always been in both directions.
It is unimaginable to think of a better guide than Youssou N’Dour to hammer that point home. For a start, he is one of the best musical minds of the continent and has the musical credentials to show for it. N’dour built his musical genius through “M’Balax, of which he is considered the king. M’Balax is a style of music blending Senegalese traditional praise singing and vocal harmonies known as griot singing with a grab-bag of influences ranging from Afro-Cuban percussion to Jazz, Soul and Blues musical arrangements. These musical influences became popular in Africa as early as the 1950s.
Youssou N’dour was introduced to American audiences with his duet “Seven Seconds” with Neneh Cherry in 1994. “Seven Seconds” went on to sell 2 million copies worldwide. In 2004, he won a Grammy Award with his album Egypt.
N’dour has also collaborated with all the major dignitaries of international music ranging from Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman, Branford Marsalis, Wyclef Jean, Ryuichi Sakamoto to Paul Simon and many others. In 2007, he was included in Time magazine’s “100 most influential people in the world.” N’dour’s influence extends beyond the realm of music. For years, he has lent his star power as goodwill ambassador for many causes such as Amnesty International and UNICEF.
Most importantly, besides Youssou N’dour, it is hard to find any other African musician superstars to have accomplished an international crossover while firmly staying rooted in the motherland. Youssou N’dour did it from his home-base of Dakar (Senegal), which remains the backbone of his musical career to this day. Thus, in the documentary, when he goes on to the Island of Goree to seek and receive blessings from Boubacar N’Diaye, the curator and guardian of the Island, that implies the blessings and support he has always received from the progenitors of his music, who are the ancestors from both the Motherland and the Diaspora.
Charged with the power of those African elders, N’dour’s job is to put on equal footing African and Diaspora music together. N’dour, however, recognizes that, no matter what, the Diaspora rules. He presents the idea that it was the best of Africans who were taken away from the motherland, otherwise, this rich culture expressed through the Blues and jazz would not have been able to survive intact centuries of dehumanization. Thus, the documentary does not intend to stay on the symbolic level. It intends to become homage to the power not only of Black Culture but of Black people throughout the Diaspora and how it needs to be understood back home as the soundtrack of Black empowerment in general.
It is also important to mention that N’dour is a practicing Muslim. In this post 9-11 world, he shows that people of all religions can work together if one is willing to engage in genuine human connections and work rather than the knee-jerk heavy drama of the facile politics of clichés and prejudices. In the documentary N’dour is able to work with diverse groups such as the Atlanta-based Harmony Harmoneers, primarily a Christian gospel group. Furthermore, the American drummer, Idriss Muhammad (of the Muslim faith himself), is able to do the same in a powerful drumming sequence back on the island of Goree with a diverse group of young Africans.
The documentary does have a few shortcomings, mainly, because it says nothing about the influences of the African griot on other musical genres such as Reggae, Hip Hop, Rap, pop and rock music. A fairly possible scenario is that N’dour will need to make another trip to the US, Caribbean, and Europe to explore these musical genres. I will venture to think that the lack of attention to these musical genres is the function of the time requirement for a standard documentary. Within this context, it makes sense to give first thought to older musical genres such as the Blues and the Jazz.
Pre-show musical selections from following Youssou N’Dour CDs:
Best of Youssou N’Dour (1995)
Ba Tay (2002)
Egypt (2004)
