In Pedro Almodóvar’s 1999 film All About My Mother, a haunting song plays during one of the most emotional scenes. It is “Tajabone”, sung in Wolof by the Senegalese musician Ismaël Lô.
Lô was born in 1956 in Niger to a Senegalese father and Nigerien mother, and grew up in Rufisque, near Dakar. He taught himself guitar and harmonica and studied at the Dakar School of Fine Arts, planning to become a painter, before turning to music.
Super Diamono
In the late 1970s, Lô joined Super Diamono, one of Senegal’s leading bands of the mbalax era. He left in the early 1980s to pursue a solo career built around his voice, acoustic guitar and harmonica.
Mbalax
Mbalax, the dominant pop music of Senegal from the late 1970s, is driven by the sabar drums of the Wolof and sung mostly in Wolof, Senegal’s most widely spoken language. Youssou N’Dour became its biggest star. Lô came up inside that scene but took a quieter path, favouring acoustic arrangements that let the words carry the song.
Africa’s Bob Dylan
Because he played harmonica in a rack while strumming guitar, and wrote socially conscious songs, Lô was often compared to Bob Dylan. His music mixed mbalax with folk, blues and ballads, and his lyrics addressed social issues, including women’s rights, emigration and African unity.
Tajabone
“Tajabone” is named after a Senegalese festival celebrated during the Islamic new year, when children dress up and go from house to house singing. Lô recorded it in the 1990s. When Almodóvar used it in All About My Mother, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the song reached audiences across Europe and beyond.
Other songs
His songs “Dibi Dibi Rek” and “Jammu Africa” are among his best known, and his albums of the 1990s, including Iso and Jammu Africa, were released internationally. Jammu Africa, meaning “peace in Africa”, became an anthem of African unity.
Honours
Lô has received honours in Senegal and France, including recognition as a Knight of the French Order of Arts and Letters. He has performed across Africa, Europe and North America.
Listening
Start with “Tajabone” and “Jammu Africa”. His acoustic recordings show his voice and harmonica at their best.
A song about children singing door to door in Dakar ended up in a Spanish film about grief. Music, like children at Tajabone, travels from house to house.
