mbalax

Mbalax (also spelled mbalakh) is Wolof, referring to the accompanying rhythm pattern played on the sabar drum ensemble. The sabar is a Wolof drum with a goatskin head, played with one hand and one stick. The mbalax rhythm — a specific syncopated pattern — is the foundation of the music genre that took the same name. The rhythm existed for centuries before the genre.

In the 1970s, Senegalese musicians began fusing sabar rhythms with Cuban music (already popular in Senegal), funk, soul, and rock. The result was mbalax — a genre that sounded like nothing else. Youssou N'Dour, born in 1959 in Dakar, became its leading figure with his band the Super Étoile de Dakar. His voice — a high, piercing tenor — and the sabar-driven rhythms made mbalax internationally recognizable. His 1994 collaboration with Neneh Cherry, '7 Seconds,' was a global hit.

In Senegal, mbalax is the dominant popular music. It plays at weddings, baptisms, political rallies, and nightclubs. The music is dance music — the rhythms are built for movement, and the performances are physical. Dakar's nightlife runs on mbalax. The music starts late (midnight is early) and continues until dawn. The word 'mbalax' in Dakar is what 'pop' means in New York: the background sound of urban life.

Western music critics categorize mbalax as 'world music,' a label that Senegalese musicians find reductive. Mbalax is not world music in Dakar. It is the music. The 'world music' category exists to describe anything that is not Western pop — it is a label applied from outside, not a description chosen from within.