RÉ-CRÉATION LITTÉRAIRE

Episode II

Wasis Diop & Mbaye Diop

December 15, 2022

“When we decide to do a performance with a celebrity, we don't do it because the person is famous; we do it because they have turned our lives upside down.”
- Mbaye Diop, Dec. 7, 2022

“Overwhelmed by the visit of this author, composer and performer whom I didn't know in real life. But our family names resonated so much with me; I could not not accept his visit. I still remember when I was twelve, I used to lock myself in the little hut, the cassette of his music in the tape recorder, the volume at the maximum, disconnected from all the sounds that interfered around, in a state of trans. Everyone in the village thought I was crazy. Nineteen years later, by chance, I met this artist on the island of Ngor in Dakar. I saw him but I didn't dare approach him up until the end of his stay. I never had the strength to tell him that I had an immense admiration for his music. Two years later, his latest album came out, "De la Glace dans la Gazelle", which my wife gave me on my birthday. This album was an anthem for me for months. Then something clicked in me: the desire to write on these pieces start to settle in me. From a trip to Paris, I start writing the journey to testify and reinforce his interrogations related to immigration, quite visible on the city of Paris (the island Saint Louis). “

- Mbaye Diop

Biographies

Wasis Diop

Photo DR Maxime de Bollivier

The Senegalese guitarist Wasis Diop holds a special place in African music. Known mainly for his film music, including the admirable Hyènes in 1992, he is also the author of the hit "African Dream" on No Sant (What's Your Name) in 1996. Wasis Diop also composed the song "C'est le dernier qui a parlé" with which Amina represented France in 1991 at the Eurovision Song Contest. "Everything Is Never Quite Enough" is noticed in 1999 on the soundtrack of The Thomas Crown Affair. The acoustic Judu Bék in 2008 shows again the extent of the talent of a great musician with varied inspirations. (Source: Universal Music)

Mbaye Diop

Photo Stephanie Pfister

Mbaye Diop is a multidisciplinary Senegalese artist born in 1981 in Richard-Toll, in the north of Senegal. In 2010, he graduated from the National School of Arts in Dakar and taught visual arts in the city of Saint-Louis until 2019. He now lives and works in Switzerland and graduated in a master's degree in contemporary art practices at HEAD Geneva (Haute école d'art et de design) (2022).

Episode I

Thierno Seydou Sall

“L’écriture est apparue chez moi comme une thérapie. Dans mes bouffées délirantes, j’ai cheminé dans les coins les plus reculés de mon être, là où se trouve des toiles d’araignées. Les bouffées délirantes m’ont permis de voyager, d’écrire et de dé-dramatiser le pouvoir de la société sur moi.”

Thierno Seydou Sall (n.1958, Sénégal) is a writer and poet. He has written several books in wolof and French: Kër Dof (Editions Ejo), L'envol des pélicans, prefaced by Cheikh Hamidou Kane (Editions NENA), Puukare (Editions Ejo), and Bouffées Délirantes (Editions Lettres de Renaissances). On the occasion of Alioune Diouf’s exhibition at Selebe Yoon in February 2021, Thierno Seydou Sall recites his text "Ndank Ndank" (“To take your time” in wolof) accompanied by the Kora player Lamine Kouyate.