Theserhythms,whichtravelledacross
the sea from Senegal on board slave ships,
would go on to shape musical genres the world
over. One man who understands this better
than most is Dread Amala, a reggae DJ and
Dakar music historian who, for 30 years,
has run the Bufalo Soldier Music Shop. A tiny
shack on a dusty corner next to a petrol station
at the Jet d’Eau roundabout, it doesn’t look like
the most promising place to find an exhaustive
collection of world music. When I step inside,
I find a cramped space piled high with vinyl
from almost every country in Africa, as well
as French and Cuban discs, jazz, blues, rock
and lots and lots of reggae. Reggae is Dread
Amala’s passion, so it’s fitting that in the taxi
on my way here the radio was playing the South
African artist Lucky Dube’s song Serious reggae
business: “Some say it came from Jamaica,
some say it came from Africa...”.
Touching a needle down onto a reggae track
from his own collection, Dread Amala explains
how the music he loves originated in this part
of the world. “In slave culture, you had“Djembe
rhythms
shaped music
genres the
world over”
- Senegalese guitar-folk
duo Pape & Cheikh
performing live at
PLAYclub in Dakar
2.Adiouza, whose
melodic pop is influenced
by roots music, in her
sitting room,
with a portrait of her
father, the musician
Ousmane Diallo,
alias Ouza
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