At a Dakar wedding, the dance floor belongs to the sabar drummers. Their sharp, rapid rhythms set the pace, and dancers answer with sudden jumps and leg kicks. Mbalax, Senegal’s national pop music, takes those drums and adds guitars, keyboards and horns. The result is one of the most distinctive sounds in African music.
The sabar
The sabar is a family of drums played by the Wolof people of Senegal and the Gambia. Each drum has a different role, and drummers play with one hand and one stick. Sabar gatherings, held in neighbourhoods for celebrations, feature dancing that can be fast, playful and suggestive.
The name
The word mbalax refers to one of the rhythmic patterns played on the sabar. Musicians in Dakar used it to name the new style that combined these patterns with modern instruments.
Dakar in the 1970s
In the 1970s, Senegalese bands such as the Star Band de Dakar played Cuban-influenced music, which was popular across West Africa. Young musicians began to replace the Cuban rhythms with Senegalese ones. Orchestra Baobab, Étoile de Dakar and Super Diamono were part of this movement.
Youssou N’Dour
Youssou N’Dour, a young singer from a griot family, became the face of mbalax. With Étoile de Dakar and later Super Étoile de Dakar, he developed the style and took it to international audiences. His high, powerful voice and the band’s drumming made mbalax famous worldwide.
Singing in Wolof
Mbalax is usually sung in Wolof, Senegal’s most widely spoken language, rather than French. Its songs praise, tease, comment on society and celebrate love and faith, including the Sufi brotherhoods important in Senegalese Islam.
The sound
Mbalax often sounds busy to newcomers: several drum patterns, guitar lines and keyboard riffs at once, with sudden breaks. Dancers know exactly when the drums will cut, and they respond with sharp movements.
Later stars
Later mbalax stars include Thione Seck, Omar Pène, Viviane Chidid and Wally Seck, Thione’s son. Mbalax remains the soundtrack of Senegalese weddings, nightclubs and baptisms.
Dancing mbalax
Mbalax dancing is athletic and theatrical. Dancers, especially women, respond to the sabar breaks with quick, high leg movements and sudden stops. At sabar gatherings, dancers take turns entering the circle to perform for the drummers and the crowd. Popular dances have names and spread quickly, much as new Afrobeats dances spread on social media today. The relationship between drummer and dancer is central: drummers watch the dancer and push the rhythm, and the dancer answers.
Many African countries have a national sound. Senegal’s is unusual because it kept its drums in front. In mbalax, the guitar follows the sabar, not the other way round.
