Daara J: (From left) N'Dongo D, Faada Freddy and Lord Aladji Man. Photo courtesy Wrasse Records
There was a concert at Alliance Française tonight by a Senegalese Hip-hop group. Now, Hip-hop is not a genre of music I am particularly fond of, and avoid like the plague. But I was intrigued by the truckloads of equipment being set up in the auditorium during my French class, and decided to check it out after class.
I'm glad I did. The evening turned out to be a revelation!
The group in question was Daara J. They are: N’Dango D, Aladji Man and Faada Freddy. They have been flown over from Senegal, which is a French speaking country, by Alliance Française as a part of the Francophone celebrations.
They sang interesting melodies, incorporating African chanting, Reggae and other forms, in addition, of course, to Rap. Their singing was raw and powerful, and melodious as well. Not the usual monotonous hip-hop stuff. Their backing track was created by a French – Mauritanian - Danish DJ, which incorporated a heavy base and drumming strongly influenced by African drums. This was really not the standard hip-hop stuff. With slight changes to the backing track, the songs could well have passed off as Reggae, Soul, or even African hard funk.
The singing was mostly in the Senegalese language and French, with bits of English, and even Hindi! The lyrics too seemed to be deeper than the average hip-hop song, based on the introductions that they gave, about issues like freedom, identity etc. The band's name Dara-J stands for 'School of life', and they referred to this very often. They take it very seriously, and their lyrics reflect this.
Their stage act was very exciting as well, and they managed to get the staid AF audience on its feet and dancing, and involved the crowd in the singing and chanting. A fun evening!
I'm glad I did. The evening turned out to be a revelation!
The group in question was Daara J. They are: N’Dango D, Aladji Man and Faada Freddy. They have been flown over from Senegal, which is a French speaking country, by Alliance Française as a part of the Francophone celebrations.
They sang interesting melodies, incorporating African chanting, Reggae and other forms, in addition, of course, to Rap. Their singing was raw and powerful, and melodious as well. Not the usual monotonous hip-hop stuff. Their backing track was created by a French – Mauritanian - Danish DJ, which incorporated a heavy base and drumming strongly influenced by African drums. This was really not the standard hip-hop stuff. With slight changes to the backing track, the songs could well have passed off as Reggae, Soul, or even African hard funk.
The singing was mostly in the Senegalese language and French, with bits of English, and even Hindi! The lyrics too seemed to be deeper than the average hip-hop song, based on the introductions that they gave, about issues like freedom, identity etc. The band's name Dara-J stands for 'School of life', and they referred to this very often. They take it very seriously, and their lyrics reflect this.
Their stage act was very exciting as well, and they managed to get the staid AF audience on its feet and dancing, and involved the crowd in the singing and chanting. A fun evening!
More info on Dara-J:
http://www.wrasserecords.com/artists/info/50.html?AddInterest=1010
Daara J: Photo courtesy Wrasse Records
