Notes from Africa: A Musical Journey with Youssou N'Dour

by Jenny Cathcart

Notes from Africa traces the rise of popular music on the continent – beginning in the 1980s when the term ‘world music’ was coined as a marketing label and African musicians, notably Youssou N’Dour and his contemporaries, began to appear on the international stage. This book explains the musical styles that developed from the 1960s, when many African countries gained their independence. It covers developments in music and society in Senegal, in West Africa and around the continent during the post-independence years and right up to the present day. Jenny Cathcart, drawing on her personal experience in Senegal and her work alongside Youssou N’Dour, offers stories and portraits of daily life in Africa. The results are fresh insights into contemporary culture, religion and politics – as well as future collaborations and developments not only on the continent but in the African diaspora too.

Genres: Music, Africa

400 pages, Paperback

Published August 8, 2019

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit defeat. I've tried and failed to finish this book for years. I care deeply about the history of West Africa, and moreso the "world music" that came from there, from the 1960s onward. But I can not get past Cathcart's breathless celebratory celebrity-loving tone. I was starting chapter 12...again...when a list of photographer Iain McKell's subjects stopped me cold...again.

It's the problem I've had every time I try to get into the book. I hit walls of names I don't care about, I strike descriptions of fashionable things I never knew existed. It's a thing that, on film as it was when this was released as a documentary, I would've seen, subliminally noted, and never thought about again. I'm sad about it but Tempus is Fugiting ever faster.

[Nora Rawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fast read anyway, if a bit disappointing for me—it ultimately comes across as more surface level hagiography than deep dive into African music, though certainly the appreciation and championing of Senegalese musicians runs deep through it. But shallow for all that, and at times felt credulous.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.