Word: kanes
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...Modern-day griots also use rhythm and rhyme to help raise local awareness of issues like HIV-AIDS, a tradition which has been usurped by a new generation of young musicians. "I don't want to just play music, I have a mission to wake up African people," explains Kane...
...Growing up in a working-class section of Senegal's capital Dakar, Kane listened to European music on the radio and fell in love with the Nigerian Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti, whose own music reflected a melee of African and Western styles. As is common in his home country, Kane had trouble finding work. Many young Senegalese dream of making a living abroad, some of whom brave a treacherous journey in the open seas on rickety boats to get to Europe...
...Kane's migration was more conventional, but no less difficult. Having moved to France with his wife, he found it hard to acclimatize and struggled to get solid work. Busking in the Paris subways to make ends meet, Kane got his big break when he was spotted by an organizer of Mali's legendary Festival in the Desert. The annual event has attained something of iconic status in the eyes of African music connoisseurs. Set in the dunes of the Sahara, several hours' drive from the nearest town of Timbuktu, the festival attracts an array of world-music talent, both...
...unlike in the West where pop music is defined almost purely in terms of its entertainment value, in Africa it's common for even the most popular artists to discuss the continent's weighty social problems in their songs. For Kane, the musical is most definitely the political. "For me it's very important to talk about African problems, we need new leadership," Kane says. "If I'm to be a revolutionary it will not be to kill people - music will be my arms...
...that Westerners are buying more African music, Kane hopes to weave a new synthesis between East and West. "My aim is to create a new sound," he says. "People have woken up to us, now I want them to open their ears...