I went to Senegal in 2007 to write about Chinese immigrants in Dakar. While I was there I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing world musician Youssou N’Dour. He is most famous in the West for the song 7 Seconds with Neneh Cherry but he is quite prolific and had a new album out at the time of the interview. He is well-known around the world but he is an absolute superstar in Senegal.
When I am travelling I like to explore the passions of a country to help me understand the place better. There are keys that can really help you to understand what makes a place tick, whether it’s fashion in Paris, food in Singapore or football (soccer) in Brazil. In Senegal it’s a double whammy: football and music.
It took a lot of liaison with N’Dour’s people on the ground in Senegal to set things up and the interview kept getting pushed back further and further. On the day we were due to leave, we were told to come to his house at midday. We waited there for hours and met N’Dour briefly some time in the mid afternoon, giving the photographer I was working with a chance to take some rushed photos. Then he disappeared again to go and do an interview for Senegalese TV. We were told he was coming back by 6pm so we waited some more. Our flight was at 10pm that night but we still had time. I remember at some point a man made us mint tea, with elaborate back and forth pouring ritual to fully blend the tea and bring it to the right temperature (or maybe it was just for show!).
By 8pm we were still waiting but we were told he was definitely on his way. His PR manager offered to drive us to the airport after the interview so we loaded up our bags in her car. N’Dour finally returned at 9pm, we did about 20 minutes of interview, posed with the great man for some cheesy souvenir photos and then bolted to the airport. Being a small airport, we still made it on to the flight.
That’s me with N’Dour at the top (it’s an awful picture of me but there’s not much I can do about that) and Peter the photographer with N’Dour to the left.
It was really one of those cases in journalism where thorough preparation helped. Twenty minutes isn’t long, when it also includes all the pleasantries beforehand. I had all my questions prepared and I was also helped by the fact that N’Dour was a professional. As an interviewee he was relaxed and confident and was interesting but didn’t waffle on, so I could get through quite a few of my questions. Fortunately, he also speaks excellent English, although it is his third language behind Wolof and French.
Timing was very tight though with the flight looming and we also weren’t sure if we had enough photographs (the light in the studio wasn’t great). So I think it’s entirely apt to call the interview, which I have now published on the blog: ’7 Seconds with Youssou N’Dour’. Enjoy!
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