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ABSTRACT
An important body of scholarship has explored the salience of Sufism (‘mystical Islam’) in Senegal. Approaches have emphasized its social and political dimensions, while little attention has been devoted to the symbolic yet important role of Sufi-affiliated pop musicians, especially mbàllax singers, in the grassroots negotiation of faith and religious tolerance in the country. Using the documentary, Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love (US, 2008), and observation, the study examines what it calls ‘cultural friction’, here a metaphor for the transient conflicts emerging as classically oriented Sufi Muslims condemn and protest against the encroachment of “obscene” practices on religious spaces and symbols. The study approaches the film as a music documentary following N’dour during and after the making of his Grammy-winning yet controversial album released in Senegal as Sant Yalla (‘God Be Praised’, 2003) and internationally as Egypt (2004). It analyzes cultural friction as part of a Senegalese artistic modernization, but also as a contemporary phenomenon speaking to the historical role of the Wolof ‘griot’ (bard) in the peaceful appropriation of Islam. Finally, the study portrays N’dour as a pop singer whose liberal Sufi perspective on music promotes his legitimacy to perform in the Islamic religious space as well.
Acknowledgements
This article results from several years of field work conducted in Senegal between 2016 and 2019. In the writing process, I received feedback and advice from several people, including Garret Field, Andrea Frohne, and Steve Howard (Ohio University). I am thankful to my departmental colleague, David Pier, for inviting me to share an earlier version of the paper at our Triangle Africa Seminar where I received constructive feedback from both UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University colleagues. Finally, I am very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers of the Journal of African Cultural Studies who provided a very helpful feedback on the paper.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 Youssou N’dour's political career began officially in January 2012 when he launched a political movement called ‘Fekke Maci Boolé’ (‘I Am Involved’ in Wolof) and declared his intention to run for presidency against former octogenarian president Abdoulaye Wade. N’dour's new decision was welcomed with optimism by many fans, but not everyone was convinced. Shortly before the election, the Constitutional Council ruled his candidacy ‘unacceptable’. He was forced to abandon his plan to run, but joined the opposition coalition ‘Benno Bokk Yakaar’ (‘United in Hope’ in Wolof) led by current president Macky Sall. After the latter won the 2012 run-off, he appointed N’dour Minister of Culture and Tourism (2012), then Minister of Tourism and Recreation (2012–2013), and then Advisor to the President from 2013 to present.
2 The city of Touba is the capital of the Muridiyya Muslim Brotherhood and Senegal's second most populous city after Dakar. It hosts the Murid Great Mosque and the Màggal, an annual pilgrimage commemorating Bàmba’s 1895 forced exile to Gabon, which is the city's biggest event that attracts around two million pilgrims and visitors.
3 The five pillars of Islam include the testimony of faith (shahādah), the five daily prayers (salāt), giving alms in support of the needy (zakāt), fasting during the month of Ramadan (sawm), and the pilgrimage to Makkah once in a lifetime for those who can (hajj).
4 In Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal (Citation2007), Patricia Tang discusses the sexually suggestive sabar dance styles as well as the accompanying sabar drumming composition.
5 As a mballax singer, Youssou N'dour believes, “There is one thing that makes us [mballax artists] modern griots. That is our capacity to adapt the [griot's] traditional language to modern contexts in order to sing for positive change” (Author's Interview with the artist, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Citation2018).
6 Recently in July 2019, the khalif of Muridiyya reiterated the prohibitions and extended the list to include wrestling and all other sports, skin bleaching, artificial hair, and indecent clothing. This set of legal prohibitions is specific to Muridiyya's capital and exists in no other holy city in Senegal. Historically, Touba has held a special territorial status – ‘statut d’extraterritorialité’ – officially recognized by the state, and which has allowed it limited self-governance on certain matters. This concession dates back to 11 August 1930, when the Governor of French West Africa had issued to Amadu Bàmba's family a legal title to the land of Touba. (See Guèye Citation2000). Such prohibitions, however, do not amount to a strict application of the shari’a law in Touba. Their implementation is loosely observed and is negotiated with the country's secular legal system.
7 In Citation2004, the video clip of mbàllax singer Fallou Dieng's song ‘Askanou Laobé’ (The Laobé People) – from album Licii Jamano (Modern Times) – was temporarily banned on TV after many religious authorities called out its erotic scenes. Parts of the video had to be edited out before the ban was lifted. Recently in 2019, activist members of the Senegalese Islamic NGO Jamra condemned and marched against the TV series, Maîtresse d’un homme marié (Mistress of a Married Man), for disseminating content they deemed ‘obscene’ and ‘insulting’. They eventually resorted to filing a legal complaint requesting that the series be discontinued or edited out.
8 For more on the Senegalese Sufi hip hop, see Joseph Hill Citation2016 and Citation2017 and Niang Citation2010.
9 Tabala is a one-sided membranophone percussion instrument used in the religious performance of Sufis such as the Qadiriyya followers in Senegal.
10 Beyond his role of mediating Islam and popular music in the 1980–Citation90s (Camara, Citationforthcoming), El Hadj Mansour Mbaye has also marked Senegalese politics as the most influential griot during former president Abdou Diouf's regime (1981–2000). For more on Mbaye's role in that sense, see Le Sénégal sous Abdou Diouf: Etat et société by Momar C. Diop and M. Diouf and Le Sénégal sous Abdoulaye Wade: Le sopi a l’épreuve du pouvoir (Citation2013) by Momar C. Diop.