(APS) – Xalam 2 presented to the public, Friday, in Dakar, its new opus entitled “Retour aux sources”, an album which it is hoped will mark the return to this revolutionary fiber which made the legend of this legendary Senegalese musical group from the end of the 1970s.
“It is the music festival today. We are celebrating a fifty-five year career and are taking the opportunity to launch the album entitled ‘Retour aux sources’, which marks the reunion with this revolutionary sound that made the legend of Xalam 2,” declared Fatou Kassé Sarr, manager of the group .
Speaking at the end of a round table organized on the occasion of the Music Festival, at the Maison de la culture Douta-Seck, in the presence of several personalities of Senegalese culture, she announced the holding of a concert to mark the group’s return to Dakar next November.
The Music Festival was an opportunity for the members of Xalam 2 to bring together their fans and friends to share the history of the group, its influence and its imprint on Senegalese music.
The album “Retour aux sources” was titled as such to mark the group’s desire to “return to basics”, the variation of musical styles. It is about remembering at the same time this precise moment when the career of Xalam 2 exploded, on the occasion of a memorable concert given in 1979 in Berlin.
The new album is a revision of the pieces from this concert, which were then reworked and replayed with a new generation of musicians, according to Fatou Kassé Sarr.
“It is, in a way, a return to the roots for the group”, but “also a passing of the baton to the new generation”, she underlined.
Fatou Kassé Sarr was delighted with the interest that younger musicians have in Xalam 2 and its glorious epic.
“Xalam 2 has always needed experience and new voices since its creation,” said Abdou Bâ, member of the Agit’Art laboratory, of which Joe Ouakam (1945-2017) was the leading figure.
“The group really took off with ‘Daïda’, the title of its first album released in 1975, in which he sang in Wolof, Mandingo, Creole, Pulaar, Diola and Serer. At the time of its creation, there were essentially three schools, that of the late Ibrahima Kassé, who gave birth to artists like Youssou Ndour, those of Super Diamono and Xalam,” he recalled.
Abdou Bâ adds that ruptures within this group very often happened “silently”, thanks to a certain “familiarity” which prevailed between its members.
“We must emphasize the originality of the style of Xalam. Its members were squarely in the musical heritage of the country,” underlined Alioune Diop, music critic and journalist at RTS.
The Xalam 2 above all made itself known around the world by playing its part in the fight against apartheid, the policy of racial segregation in South Africa, recalled Diop.
“The group served as a school in 1984 […] He played during the 70th birthday of President Léopold Sédar Senghor, for example, in 1976,” recalled the journalist and music critic.
Moustapha Diop, member of the Jamm Jazz group, spoke about the influence this group had on young musicians. “I am very honored to be here to talk about my big brothers. They cannot imagine the influence they had on us,” the artist emphasized.
He considers that Xalam 2 was “an example on several levels”, particularly in the rhythm and structured vocals.
Many musicians and singers have passed through Xalam 2. We can cite Souleymane Faye, alias Diégo, the arranger Cheikh Tidiane Tall and the singer Abdoulaye Prosper Niang.
