19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Senegalese ‘Seven Seconds' star Youssou N'Dour back on the road at 65 with new album
A rat-a-tat percussion and keyboard riff, and Youssou N'Dour's voice tore through the dark Dakar sky, as the world music legend geared up to do what he does best: rock through the night.
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With a new album out and a world tour starting this week, the Senegalese icon and Grammy Award winner – who confesses he 'couldn't live without music' – shows no signs of slowing down despite his 45 years in show business.
'Let's rock,' he barked to his 12-piece band Super Etoile an hour before midnight, before the strains of one of their last pre-tour rehearsals rang out well into the small hours.
Five years after his last album, N'Dour's latest record, Eclairer Le Monde – Light The World, voices his commitment to human rights and gives a place of honour to traditional African instruments.
'It's been nothing but a blast!' says the 65-year-old of his decades in music.
N'dour speaks during an interview on April 7, 2025. Photo: AFP
In that time he has cut dozens of gold discs and laid down tracks with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Sting, Manu Dibango and Neneh Cherry.
