KHELCOM FIELDS, Senegal, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Thousands of Senegalese Muslims, from bankers to bus drivers, flocked to the country’s dusty peanut fields this week in an annual show of devotion to the powerful Mouride brotherhood.

Bent double under blazing sunshine, ranks of men, women and children harvested the groundnuts by hand from the dry earth after a call to work — or “Ndiguel” — from the Mourides’ spiritual leader, Serigne Saliou Mbacke.

It has become a key fixture for Mourides, a Sufi Islam movement whose doctrine of hard work as a route to paradise has made it a powerful economic and political force in Senegal.

“Pray as if you will die tomorrow and work as if you will live forever” is one of the oft-quoted teachings of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, the Muslim mystic who founded the movement in 1883.

Many of the devotees stay for days or even weeks, sleeping at night in clusters of tents spread across tens of thousands of hectares of plantations — known as the “Khelcom fields” — around the holy city of Touba.

“The working and living conditions are very difficult, so you are obliged to show solidarity,” said Saliou Niang, 25, a student in hotel management, sipping mint tea under the moonlight after a day toiling in the dust.

“It’s a spiritual training you receive here. In a world that is becoming more and more individualist, you learn to share, to work together,” he said, as other Mourides sang religious chants and drummed in the background.

GLOBALISATION

Mouride influence runs deep across Senegal.

Brightly painted taxis and buses carry mottos such as “Djeuredjef Serigne Fallou” (Thank you Serigne Fallou), a former Mouride leader, or “Grand Marabout”, revered for his mystical abilities to heal the sick and change the weather.

Hand-painted depictions of the one surviving photograph of Bamba, his face wrapped in a flowing white scarf, adorn shop fronts and businesses in towns around the former French colony.

Mouridism is largely confined to Senegal and neighbouring Gambia, unlike the larger Tidjane brotherhood which has spread more widely across West Africa from Morocco.

But the marabouts’ teachings to go out into the world and bring back wealth to build up the movement has led the Mourides to establish a formidable trading network across the globe.

From street sellers in New York, Paris, Rome and Madrid to import/export dealers in Hong Kong and Dubai, many of the Senegalese doing business abroad are members of the brotherhood.

Type “Khelcom” into an Internet search engine and one of the first pages to come up is “Khelcom-Wheels-Dealers”, a used car dealer serving the Senegalese community in South Hackensack, New Jersey.

Known even by fellow Senegalese as wily operators, these jet-setting Mourides have been dubbed “Modou Modou” because, when caught selling fake designer goods, they give the ubiquitous name “Modou” in the hope of not being identified.

“All Mourides when they travel just need to get money to bring back to Touba,” said Hamdan Thiam, 45, who lived in the Canary Islands, Barcelona and Paris before returning to Touba to study Bamba’s teachings more deeply.

As a result, Touba and neighbouring Mbacke have grown from just a tiny village at the time of Bamba’s birth to become Senegal’s second-largest conurbation after Dakar, with a population of more than half a million.

“Touba is the middle of paradise,” said Thiam, grinning in the shadow of the city’s vast marble-covered mosque.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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Episode 5 "Galsene: Hip Hop in Senegal" explores the history of hip-hop
culture in Senegal. From the old school MCs to the younger generation of
rappers – Episode 5 lays out the who, what, when, and where of the
hip-hop scene, and sheds light on both its political past as well as its
present state. The episode ends with the song ‘Hip-Hop’ from Pikine rap
super group – Tigrim Bi.

In Senegal all rappers have a dream. Whether that dream lives in the
spiritual, political or material realm, they all seek success and fame
in these realms. But can this dream be achieved in Senegal – a country
where the recourses are vastly limited and thousands of youth die every
year trying to flee to Europe in small boats? Episode 6 – "The African
Dream" addresses this question, and the desire for rappers in Senegal to
export their music and live abroad. Featuring an interview (and
freestyle) with legend Didier Awadi (of Positive Black Soul fame) and
the track "Fresh Time Pt 1" by Zoo Squad off the album African
Underground: Depths of Dakar.

The United States congratulates President Abdoulaye Wade on his
re-election victory in Senegal’s elections last month. We further
commend the people of the Republic of Senegal for their unprecedented
high voter turnout. Their involvement is a testament to Senegal’s
commitment to a healthy democratic system. The United States stands
with the Senegalese people on this occasion and will continue to support
their efforts to build a safe and prosperous democracy.

Democracy in Dakar, Episode 4 – "Wade Wins". This episode shows the calm after the storm. A very eerie calm indeed as all of Dakar seems stunned by the election results, where Wade has seemed to have won 56% of the vote. This episode shows the calm on the streets and some incisive interviews with journalists and artists.

Gaston bring their appropriate and haunting track "Wallo" to this episode, as well as participate in a deep interview.

Also featured are interviews with Keyti, Rose Skelton, Serigne Ndiaye, Pape Guey and Matador.

Wade won with about 1.9 million votes, or 56 percent of valid
ballots, compared with 15 percent for runner-up Idrissa Seck, declared
Senegal’s constitutional council — the final authority on elections.
The winning candidate needed more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid
a runoff.

The council also rejected claims by two of the 14 opposition
candidates that irregularities in the voting process should invalidate
the results. Marxist candidate Abdoulaye Bathily, who finished sixth
with 2 percent of the vote, had said some ballots were not properly
signed by election officials and that voting continued for five hours
after the polls officially closed on the night of Feb. 25.

Ousmane Tanor Dieng, who finished third with about 14 percent of the
total, had also asked for annulment of the vote, though his campaign
did not release his specific complaints.

The petitions by the candidates were "without foundation," said
chief clerk Ndeye Maguette Mbengue. He did not provide further details.

Despite notable media sources, such as the BBC,
upholding it as one of Africa’s model nations, Senegal has experienced
rampant poverty and unemployment within its borders. Thousands risk
their lives every year taking dangerous boat journeys to Spain’s Canary
Islands, seeking better lives. Freedom of speech is, according to many,
becoming a rare commodity, with radio stations and journalists being
harassed and sometimes harmed for their “biased” viewpoints.

Music
is no exception. Hardly the American stuff of bling bling, Senegalese
hip-hop might be seen as a cathartic means for the country’s youth to
express the state of their country–and the dangers that rise with
voicing such opinions. 

“Rap music in Senegal is no game,” says Nomadic Wax founder Ben Herson,
who makes periodic trips back to the country seeking new talent. “[The
artists] have been threatened, beaten up, and censored, yet they
continue to speak for the people and get their voice heard. The Democracy in Dakar project is all about providing a platform for people worldwide to hear the story straight from the source.”

With
that in mind, Herson, along with partner-in-crime Dan Cantor, set up
shop in the capital city in 2003 to capture that story. The two
constructed a temporary studio in Dakar and opened its doors to anyone
willing to drop by and pick up a mic. “Keeping things open like this
has allowed me to discover some incredible talent that many in Senegal
had not had the opportunity to discover,” explains Herson. “Rather than
take artists out of their element we bring the studio directly to them,
in an environment they are most comfortable in.”

The result of
such “guerilla-style” recording is a selection of rising stars,
established artists, and unknowns spitting sharp lyrics over tightly
arranged beats that demonstrate both the politics of hip-hop in Senegal
and the country’s rich musical tradition. “We want our audience to get
the clearest picture possible of what these artists are going through,”
says Herson, “and the hardships that rappers in Senegal face to get
their music out.”

Jennifer Marston

Depths of Dakar is out May 15, 2007 on Nomadic Wax. 

myspace.com/nomadicwax 

Listen to Sen Kumpa’s “Niawal,” from the compilation, available now at XLR8R’s Downloads Section. 

Tracklisting
1. Sen Kumpa “Niawal”
2. Pato “Keep It Real”
3. Zoo Squad “Fresh Time pt 1”
4. Foumlade “sing With Us feat. Bag Blin D”
5. Nightmare “Geble Night in Blue feat. Yella”
6. Adama “Aduna Bi”
7. Omzo “Goor Yombul”
8. Jojo “All I Want feat. Gofu (Yat Fu)”
9. Zoo Squad “Fresh Time pt 2”
10. Fatim “Real Woman”
11. Tigrim Bi “Hip-Hop”
12. Omzo “Li Guen pt 2”

Posted by Jennifer Marston on March 8, 2007 3:13 PM | Comments (0)

DAKAR (Reuters) – Senegal will hold long-delayed legislative elections on June 3, the government said on Tuesday, with newly reelected President Abdoulaye Wade hoping to maintain his parliamentary majority.

"The legislative elections are fixed for June 3, 2007," Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom told a news conference in the capital Dakar.

The polls were originally set for May 2006, but Wade pushed them back in 2005 after Senegal’s worst rains in decades destroyed thousands of homes. He said the postponement would save money which could be used to aid flood victims.

The opposition accused him of trying to buy time because he feared he would lose his parliamentary majority.

The polls were postponed for a second time in January after the West African country’s constitutional court upheld an opposition appeal against a decree from Wade which had altered the way in which parliamentary seats were shared out.

Wade won a comfortable first-round victory in presidential polls on February 25 with 56 percent of votes, nearly four times as much as his nearest rival.

But the opposition Socialist party lodged an appeal with the constitutional court on Monday calling for the annulment of the polls because of what it called voting irregularities.

The president, who is in his 80s and has ruled since 2000, has credited his victory to strong support in rural areas which he said were ignored by the opposition.

Monitors from West Africa’s regional organisation ECOWAS said the vote was sufficiently free and fair, although Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres said state media gave Wade and his campaign overwhelming coverage.

News & Notes, March 2, 2007 · Charges are brought by the Hague on two Sudanese men over possible crimes in Darfur; and a look at elections in Senegal.

Mr. Wade’s campaign slogan was that he needed more time to finish first-term projects. He said higher salaries and steady growth were reasons to keep him in power.

But his opponents said his seven years in office were long enough, pointing to worsening energy problems, a climate of intimidation against political opponents, unfinished construction projects, and boatloads of unemployed men risking their lives at sea to search for work in Europe.

Political science professor Yoro Dia at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar says Mr. Wade had many problems in his first term because he was too busy being a politician, rather than a statesman. His second term may an opportunity to polish his image for the history books.

"Now he is re-elected, he will be free from daily politics and he will be knocking on history’s door," said Professor. Dia.

The professor says Mr. Wade is fascinated by post-independence presidents Leopold Sedar Senghor and Abdou Diouf who were in power four decades. Dia says Mr. Wade has been obsessed with how to stay in power, after his three decades fighting in the opposition and five failed presidential attempts.

Dia says the president, secure in his second and last term, can now think about his legacy.

"[Former President Leopold Sedar] Senghor has his place in history as someone who built the nation, [former President Abdou] Diouf has his place in history as someone who built the state, and now me, Abdoulaye Wade, what is my place in history?" added Dia.

Director of the Superior Institute of Information Sciences and Communication School in Dakar, Abdou Latif Coulibaly says Mr. Wade’s political instincts are autocratic.

"He uses the rules of democracy to come to power, but when he is in power, he thinks these rules are not good for the Senegalese people and he has to break all these rules and break all the arms that help him to come to power," he said.

Following the electoral commission’s announcement of his victory Thursday night, Mr. Wade vowed to pursue corruption charges against some of his opponents. He said Senegal’s laws must be defended.

Mr. Wade has dismissed accusations of fraud as lies by journalists, and factually incorrect. He also says Senegal has never been more democratic than under his presidency.

But Coulibaly says power is the only shield Mr. Wade has against prosecution, and that his legacy will be a corrupt one. There are persistent questions over how Mr. Wade is spending new construction funds, and why close friends, and his son, have been given important positions in managing these funds.

"He himself knows he is not clean," he added. "Because today he is the president, no one can put him in jail. But when he loses power, he will be in jail I am sure."

Coulibaly wrote a critical biography of Mr. Wade in 2003 called An Opposition Leader Reaches Power, the Danger of Political Change that is banned in Senegal, and is available only in France.

Meanwhile, organizations that want to see Mr. Wade pursue their objectives are already jostling for attention.

A Chadian human rights non-profit group recently asked him to speed up the trial in Senegal of Chad’s former ruler, Hissene Habre, who is charged with crimes against humanity. The group wrote that Mr. Wade’s second mandate will be crowned a success if the case is heard.

Mr. Wade did not mention this at the news conference Thursday. He promised to quickly build a new airport and technology university. He also said journalists should have never doubted his first-round victory for a second term, which constitutionally, should be his last.