Youssou N’Dour , well known by his stage name Youssou Madjiguène Ndour, was born in Senegal on October 1, 1959. He is a singer, songwriter, musician, composer, sporadic actor, businessman, and politician.
In Senegal and most of Africa in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine referred to him as “perhaps the most renowned singer alive.” He served as the country’s tourism minister from April 2012 to September 2013.
What is Youssou N Dour known for?
He is renowned for his incredible vocal range and for popularizing mbalax, a genre of popular music in Senegal that primarily combines traditional Wolof instrumental and vocal forms with Cuban and other Latin American popular genres.
N’Dour contributed to the creation of the mbalax type of popular Senegalese music, which is familiar to all Senegalese people (including Wolof) and has holy roots in Serer music njuup tradition and ndut initiation rites. He is the focus of the internationally distributed films Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love (2008), which was directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, and Return to Gorée (2007), which was helmed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud.
N’Dour played Olaudah Equiano in the movie Amazing Grace in 2006.
