WOMAD

Ismael Lo

From Senegal

2001 biography:Born in Senegal in 1956, Ismael Lô’s musical beginnings were far from auspicious. His first guitar was made from an oil barrel and a fishing line. He has gone from this, and swapping his stamp collection for a four-string guitar, to world-wide success.Raised on the music of Otis Reading, Jimi Hendrix and Wilson Pickett, Lô travelled from Mauritia to the Gambia, armed only with his guitar, his harmonica and an amp, strapped to a bush taxi.He joined Dakar dance band Super Diamono whom he met on the road, a year later, after time in Spain, during which he developed his other passion, painting.Super Diamono, with its fusion of electric sound and traditional Wolof rhythms was a huge success and produced a number of hits. Ismael left the band in 1984 to start up his own group with major local names like Vieux Faye, Thio Mbaye and Sele Thiam. Gradually he developed his own particular style of music, mixed with Rhythm and Blues and contrasted with the luxuriant percussion of the other members of the band.Ismael broke onto the international scene in 1991 with his eponymous album and garnered both attention and acclaim for the single, Tabjone, named after a Muslim festival in which children go from house to house to receive presents.An international recording contract, RFI award and the prestigious title of "African Dylan" were to follow.Despite an insistence on working at his own pace, Ismael has been highly productive with a range of albums which culminated in a compilation release, Jammu Africa in 1996.His reputation firmly established, Ismael has just released his latest album, Dabah, which continues to criticise laziness in all its forms, racism and the worship of money, all of which he feels are detrimental to African values.