Senegal & music: the voice of the griots
To understand Senegalese music, you have to start with the griots, géwël in Wolof, jali among the Mandinka. Their hereditary calling is passed down within families: they are the keepers of genealogies, historical narratives and oral tradition. Their first tool is the voice. The praise song, which reminds a family where it comes from and what its ancestors achieved, remains at the heart of their repertoire. You still hear it at naming ceremonies and weddings.
This voice is accompanied by stringed instruments. The most famous is the kora, a long-necked harp-lute whose resonator is a large calabash covered with skin. Its strings, around twenty of them, are arranged on either side of a bridge. It belongs to the Mandinka tradition, shared between Mali, the Gambia, Guinea and Senegal, where Casamance has produced several masters of the instrument. Its more understated cousin, the xalam, is a plucked lute widely played in Senegal, with a drier, edgier sound than the rippling cascade of the kora.
The 20th century brought this tradition out of the family compounds. Mbalax, a popular music born in Senegal, was built on percussion, led by the sabar and the tama. It blends Wolof vocal and instrumental forms with the Cuban and Latin American music people listened to in Dakar. Its leading figure is Youssou N’Dour, born in Dakar: he introduced mbalax to international audiences and won a Grammy Award for his album Egypt. If you learn a chorus in Wolof, there is a good chance it comes from there.
Formats: what you work on in a lesson
The category starts with a single activity. Its listing sets out what is taught, how long the session lasts and what is provided. Here is what a singing or music lesson in Senegal generally covers.
- Voice and breath: posture, breathing, pitch. The work is done by ear, through imitation, as in traditional teaching.
- Singing in a local language: a few verses in Wolof, learned along with their meaning.
- Singing over a rhythm: placing your voice above a drum or an instrument, coming in at the right moment, answering a chorus.
- Instrumental accompaniment: a first approach to a melodic instrument, to understand how voice and strings converse.
Where to sing and play music in Senegal
- Dakar: the capital of mbalax, where music fills the venues, the family ceremonies and the neighbourhoods.
- Casamance: a land of Mandinka culture, which has given the country several masters of the kora. A lesson around Ziguinchor fits well with exploring the region.
- Saint-Louis: a city of music, home to the Saint-Louis International Jazz Festival. A heritage setting for a lesson combined with a visit.
- Toubab Dialaw and the Petite Côte: an artists’ village and a seaside area, easy to combine with a stay by the ocean.
When to take a lesson
Singing lessons can be taken all year round: they take place under cover, often at the end of the day. The dry season, from November to May, remains the most comfortable, with less humid heat. The rainy season (hivernage), July to October, is heavier, but an indoor lesson is still pleasant. And whatever the season, a naming ceremony or a wedding in your neighbourhood may give you the chance to hear a griot sing.
Good to know & budget
No musical knowledge is needed: you learn by ear. Bring water: the voice tires quickly in the dry air of the harmattan. With the teacher’s agreement, record the phrases you have worked on so you can practise them at home. The activity’s listing states whether an instrument is lent during the session.
On Que Faire Sénégal, the price shown on the activity is the price of the service. You pay 20% to secure your booking (the booking fee). The balance is paid on site, on the day of the lesson. If you live in Senegal, you get the resident rate: up to 30% off (the exact rate is shown on each listing). For a singing or music lesson, there are no additional official fees.
Who is it for?
Visitors will find an hour that lets them take home something other than a photo: a chorus in Wolof and the keys to the music they will hear everywhere on their trip. Residents will see it more as a regular appointment: finally understanding the lyrics of an mbalax hit and joining in at weddings and naming ceremonies, rather than just listening. Singing also works very well with the family or in a small group.
A Senegalese song can travel the world. In the very early 1990s, Ismaël Lô recorded “Tajabone”. A few years later, the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar chose it for the soundtrack of All About My Mother: audiences all over the world then heard a voice from Senegal. That is the whole point of a lesson: moving from listening to understanding what these voices are singing.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be able to sing or read music to take a lesson?
No. Learning is done by ear, through imitation, as in traditional teaching. A complete beginner leaves with a few sung phrases and a feel for their own voice.
How is this different from the percussion workshops?
The percussion workshops teach you to play the drum: sabar, djembe, tama. Here, you work on the voice and the melodic instruments that accompany it. The two complement each other.
What is a griot?
A griot, géwël in Wolof, belongs to a hereditary line of musicians and storytellers, keepers of genealogies and oral tradition. Their art is built on the voice, often accompanied by a stringed instrument such as the kora.
Where can I hear the kora in Senegal?
The kora belongs to the Mandinka tradition: in Senegal, it is Casamance that has produced several masters of the instrument, and a lesson naturally finds its place there.
How do I book and how much should I budget?
The price is shown on the activity. You pay 20% to secure your booking (the booking fee), and the balance is paid on site, on the day of the lesson. Residents get the resident rate: up to 30% off, and there are no additional official fees.
