Youssou N’Dour review – Senegalese superstar is on magnificent form



Barbican, London
In a absorbing performance, the singer-songwriter transforms his classical tracks earlier than a dance-heavy forty five-minute encore

The astir influential surviving instrumentalist connected the continent … Youssou N’Dour performing astatine the Barbican, London. Photograph: Sarah Louise BennettThe astir influential residing instrumentalist connected the continent … Youssou N’Dour acting astatine the Barbican, London. Photograph: Sarah Louise BennettRobin DenselowFri 4 Nov 2022 12.17 EDTLast changed connected Fri 4 Nov 2022 12.19 EDT

As the MC declares that we are to fulfill “the king of African pop” earlier than Youssou N’Dour comes connected level, this nevertheless appears to underplay the past and sificance of the maximum celebrated and influential residing instrumentalist connected the continent. The Senegalese vocalist and songwriter converted the westbound African tune country by blending humanities affects with the precise modern-day and past took his tune to the world. Now sixty three, N’Dour stays a breathtaking performer.

A lithe, diversion discern with cropped hair, glasses and wearing a elegant black-and-white match, helium warms up with ballad Xale Rewmi, gathers gait with praise opus Serin Fallu aft which eases into considered 1 of his astonishing melodic anthems, Li Ma Weesu. By present he's joined done his afloat 10-piece band, with 4 percussionists on with virtuoso talking drum subordinate Assane Thiam and backing singers. N’Dour is blessed with 1 of the maximum extraordinary, effectual tenor voices successful Africa, and this nighttime he's connected singular shape, remodeling and transforming creation songs and affectional ballads with pressing spontaneity and astonishing bursts of improvisation arsenic helium sways and dances passim the level.

It’s a benignant that helium developed little backmost successful the aboriginal 80s, whilst helium converted accepted Senegalese mbalax with affects that covered Cuban rumba and soul. His exhilarating creation tune swept the america of a, and helium brought worldwide audiences to African tune erstwhile helium performed on Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and Sting connected the 1988 Human Rights Now! Global tour. Six years aboriginal helium launched his bestselling medium The Guide (Wommat), which blanketed his deed duet with Neneh Cherry, 7 Seconds. Tonight, Cherry’s constituent is taken by mode of Pascale “Kali” Kameni Kamga from Cameroon, and the way is fixed a gutsy, pressing makeover arsenic they repetition “we don’t request the kids struggling nary more”.

Gutsy … Youssou N’Dour and his band. Photograph: Sarah Louise Bennett

N’Dour is simply a main subordinate successful Senegal. He has a media empire, inclusive of a paper and vigor and tv stations, has stood for president and served arsenic curate of tourism. The nighttime earlier than this show helium go owed to beryllium honoured connected the Songlines opus awards, but needed to cancel arsenic helium changed into summoned to a gathering with the Senegalese president – coming from a griot household helium has up to day the accepted griot presumption of keeping records live and offering proposal to rulers. His tune isn’t conscionable famous, nevertheless comes with a message. One of his nice-cherished songs, the singalong Birima, praises a 19th-century king, and the acceptable ends with the thoughtful New Africa, expressing anticipation for solidarity connected the continent.

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N’Dour returns for an encore that lasts for forty 5 minutes. He moves into day enactment mode, feeding disconnected the powerfulness of the radical – a batch of them from the diaspora – wrong the packed corridor arsenic helium reworks the joyful Happy and adds furious scat passages to I Love You. He ends with the indant No More, a opus of governmental sadness (“you promised to marque fantabulous … frankincense acold not anything”) that helium archetypal released successful 1992 nevertheless hasn’t misplaced a driblet of its efficiency.