FACTBOX: Senegal’s powerful Mourides have global reach
December 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
(Reuters) – Serigne Saliou Mbacke, caliph of Senegal’s Mouride Muslim brotherhood died on Friday aged 92, throwing one of West Africa’s most powerful religious movements into mourning.
Saliou was the last surviving son of the Mourides’ 19th century founder Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, and had been caliph since 1990. Here are some facts about Islam and Mouridism in Senegal.
– Over 90 percent of Senegalese are Muslims. Most claim allegiance to one of four Sufi brotherhoods: half are Tidianes, a third Mourides and most others Qadriyya and Layennes.
– Although not the largest brotherhood, the Mourides wield most political, economic and religious influence.
– President Abdoulaye Wade, a member, regularly visits the Mouride holy city Touba, including after elections to thank the movement’s religious teachers, or marabouts, for their support.
– Since Bamba’s death in 1927, Mourides have followed his call for an annual pilgrimage to Touba, known as the Grand Magal, which marks Bamba’s exile to Gabon in 1895 by French colonial authorities who feared his growing influence.
– The Mourides’ vast contributions have paid to build an enormous marble-clad mosque whose 87-metre (287-foot) tower dominates the city’s skyline.
– As a holy city controlled by religious authorities where drinking and smoking are forbidden, Touba has special status as a semi-autonomous city within Senegal. Along with neighboring Mbacke it has grown into Senegal’s second biggest conurbation with a population of over 500,000.
– Bamba and El Hajj Malick Sy, leader of the Tidiane brotherhood, introduced today’s Sufism to Senegal in the late 19th century. It is a form of mystical Islam that hinges on the relationship between a disciple, or talibe, and his marabout.
– Bamba’s teachings promoting hard work as a route to paradise are summed up in the saying "Pray as if you will die tomorrow and work as if you will live forever".
– Despite open observance by both Muslims and Christians, Senegal is generally free from the sectarian conflict seen in some other West African countries such as Nigeria.
– The Baye Fall, recognizable by their dreadlocks and patchwork clothing, follow Bamba’s most famous disciple, Ibra Fall. Fall, a devoted Muslim but a poor Koranic scholar, was excused Islam’s five daily prayers by Bamba in return for hard work and strict devotion to the marabout.
– Originally a rural movement which controlled Senegal’s main cash-crop, peanuts, Mouridism changed forever when a prolonged drought afflicted West Africa in the 1970s, forcing its devotees to the cities. Many marabouts encouraged their followers to head overseas to seek their fortune from trade.
– In New York, the Mourides established their own community, Little Senegal, and July 28 has officially been designated Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba day. Their long robes and tasseled hats have become a familiar sight in Harlem.
(Compiled by Alistair Thomson)
In Senegal, Hip Hop Is About Social Change
December 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Many Americans view commercial hip hop as little more than a venue for scantily clad women and shallow lyrics about drugs, fast cars and fast cash. But on the West African stage, hip hop is proving to be a political weapon, capable of inciting rebellion and change.
“We don’t talk about the girls and the bling bling,” says Abdoulaye Aw, the founder of Propagand’Arts, a firm that introduces African artists to the American hip hop industry. “We use our music to educate the people and talk about the real issues.”
The artists say that their desire to educate is what sets Senegalese hip hop apart from its American counterpart. The musicians have a preference for substance over entertainment value.
“We are more focused on giving people information,” says Moussa Sall, a Senegalese rap artist who now lives in Washington D.C. “[In America] it’s all about clubbing and just doing party songs, but we are focused on the message.”
The message is that the country has not been doing so well under the current leadership of President Abdoulaye Wade, and that Senegal is in desperate need of a change.
“The hip hop movement is educating the people on the fact that we need to take this guy out!” says Aw. “The guy we put in power doesn’t really care about the people. He is there for his family and for himself. He is not really ruling the country right now.”
Abdulaye Wade is only the third president of Senegal. First elected in 2000, he won re-election in March of 2007, much to the dismay of many members of the hip-hop community.
Despite the ratification of a new constitution in 2001, and economic reforms that have resulted in a 5percent increase in GDP every year, the country is still highly dependent on outside donor support, and Wade has not been able to fight the high unemployment that ravages the country.
According to a 2001 estimate in the CIA World Fact Book, Senegal had an unemployment rate of 48 percent, with 40 percent being urban youth. A 2004 profile by the Institute for Security Studies, places the unemployment rate in Senegal’s urban sector at 23 percent. And 54 percent of the country’s population lives below the poverty line.
Many citizens choose to flee Senegal and immigrate to Europe or America in search of more job opportunities.
“It’s hard down there in [Senegal],” says Moussa Sall. “We don’t have many opportunities. They are pushing us to leave our country and go somewhere else.”
For the Senegalese, rhyming on the microphone over a hot beat is the only way to push back.
“It’s increasingly obvious that [hip hop] is an important political tool there,” says Magee McIlvaine, the co-director and co-producer of the independent documentary film, “Africa Underground: Democracy in Dakar.” McIlvane adds, “In Senegalese mainstream hip hop, the people appreciate positivity and political consciousness.”
The film, which won honors at the Bronx film festival and the Vibe Magazine Urban World Film Festival, documents the period up to and just after the recent 2007 election. It was that election that the hip hop community hoped would bring about change.
“When we got there for the 2007 elections, there was a lot of tension,” McIlvaine says. “We decided to go in and film the elections from the rapper’s perspective.”
2007 wasn’t the first time that rap would have had an effect on the outcome of a political election.
Ben Herson, the founder and director of Nomadic Wax, a record label that seeks to bring more west African hip hop to the American market, says that in 2000, rap music was a key factor in motivating the regime change. As a result, current president Abdoulye Wade took the place of former president Abdou Diouf.
“In 2000, it’s like hip hop really changed the power.” Says Sall. “We were telling the people what they need to know about politics.”
Senegalese artists were first inspired by the politically conscious American hip-hop of the 1980’s.
“The first real hip hop artist that inspired them to do anything was Chuck D., with ‘Fight the Power’,” McIlvaine says. “It had a political consciousness that really appealed to the way Senegalese people were living.”
The art form may have taken such a strong hold in Senegal because in some form, it existed in Africa before it was discovered in America.
“Senegal has a lot of cultural and musical traditions that are very similar to hip hop,” Herson says. “The traditions go back 5000 years. They just evolved and continued. But more importantly, it’s a medium that is a separate social space that the youth can latch onto and convey their own struggles.”
In fact, youth makes up a large part the Senegalese populace. 70% of the population is under 30 years of age. The average age is only 18.7 years, compared to the U.S., where the average age is 36.6 years.
“It just comes naturally as a way to reach the young people,” Moussa Sall says. “In Senegal, we listen to more hip hop than any other music.
Since gaining its independence from France in 1960, Senegal has been one of the few African countries that has not had a coupe d’etat. But so far, the Senegalese democracy has been unable to produce a leader that can solve the country’s problems.
Under the increased threat of political upheaval, the current regime has kept a tight grip on the rights given to its people by the new constitution.
“I know that some people were exiled,” Aw says. “I know a few people died as well. The climate is not like it used to be, a lot of people are wondering what’s going to happen.”
According to Aw, the government uses violence, exile, and the threat of tax increases to deter young Senegalese artists from speaking out against the regime.
But in the eyes of many that are involved with the Senegalese hip-hop industry, the need to speak out against corruption in government has never been stronger.
“Hip-hop is a form of Fighting,” Aw says. “It came from the ghetto and it gave young African Americas a way to raise their voice. It’s the same in Africa.”
The next step is to bring their fight to the world stage.
“It’s time for Senegalese hip hop to extend itself,” Sall explains. “We need to focus on it, and push it more for people to really listen to what we have to say.”
“I think Senegalese hip hop is going to become more popular,” Abdoulye says, “We are going to get more and more artists holding the government accountable.”
Reggae star says ‘no regrets’ after being barred from Senegal
December 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment
ABIDJAN (AFP) — Reggae star Tiken Jah Fakoly said Saturday he had "no regrets" after being barred from entering Senegal following criticism of President Abdoulaye Wade.
"I gave my opinion as an African citizen," the Ivorian singer told AFP. "I have always said what I think about the news and I told myself that I can do the same thing in Senegal."
He criticised Wade during a press conference in Dakar and afterward at a concert on Wednesday, inviting the president to leave office for the good of his country.
Senegal’s interior ministry said Thursday evening that he was "persona non grata in Senegal" for his "insolent and discourteous" remarks and would be barred from entering the country.
"There are no regrets," the singer said. "I don’t regret it at all because I said what all Senegalese say every day. Opposition members say it every day, young rappers say it, everybody says it."
The Senegalese government faced what was seen as the country’s most violent protests since the late 1980s last month.
Local media said the unrest was an expression of disillusionment by the majority of Senegalese hard pressed for the most basic needs, while the country invests in new highways and five-star hotels ahead of a major summit of Islamic nations it is set to host in March.
Senegal’s interior minister sought to justify the decision taken by the government.
"Someone cannot come to a country and give orders to a president," Ousmane Ngom said, cited by Senegal’s APS news agency.
"We could have taken draconian measures, but we did not do that," he added.
The singer said he learned from the radio about the Senegalese government’s decision to bar him, adding that he was both "surprised" and "disappointed" at the move.
"I think that President Wade is maybe not necessarily up to date on it and that the interior minister took the decision," he said.
He said that in Africa, "there are many ministers who seek to please the president".
"I hope that President Wade will again show proof of wisdom so that the interior minister reverses the decision," the singer said.
Wade had been "an example" for young Africans in the past for "freedom of expression and multi-party systems", said Fakoly.
In 2000, Wade, then an opposition figure for two decades in Senegal, swept to power in elections, the first time power slipped from the Socialist Party’s 40-year rule.
