Youssou N'Dour

Youssou N'Dour

Youssou N'Dour (also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa and in 2023, the same publication ranked him at number 69 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. From April 2012 to September 2013, he was Senegal's Minister of Tourism. N'Dour helped develop a style of popular Senegalese music known by all Senegambians (including the Wolof) as mbalax, a genre that has sacred origins in the Serer music njuup tradition and ndut initiation ceremonies. He is the subject of the award-winning films Return to Gorée (2007) directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud and Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love (2008) directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, which were released around the world. In 2006, N'Dour was cast as Olaudah Equiano in the film Amazing Grace. Ethnically, N'Dour is Serer, born to a Serer father and a Toucouleur mother. However, culturally, N'Dour is Wolof. He was born in Dakar. He started performing at age 12 and would later perform regularly with the Star Band, Dakar's most popular group during the 1970s. Despite N'Dour's maternal connection to the traditional griot caste, he was not raised in that tradition, which he learned instead from his sibling. Although patrilineally from the noble N'Dour family, his parents' world-view encouraged a modern outlook, leaving him open to two cultures and thereby inspiring N'Dour's identity as a modern griot. As a Mouride disciple, taalibé in Wolof, a Muslim of the Mouride brotherhood, one of the large four Sufi orders in Senegambia, he often incorporated aspects of Islamic music and chants into his work. At the age of 15, Youssou N'Dour joined Super Diamono and, in 1975, toured with the band in West Africa. In 1976 when N'Dour was 16 years old, he signed a contract to sing with Ibra Kasse's Star Band at Kasse's Miami club in Dakar where he would become a sensation. In 1978, N'Dour would follow as several members of the Star Band left to form Étoile de Dakar, a band that made important contributions to Senegal's newly evolving musical style called mbalax which incorporated traditional Senegalese music into the Latin styles that had dominated Senegalese popular music. Although they quickly became one of the city's most popular bands, the group was short-lived due to internal problems. Étoile de Dakar split into two groups: Étoile 2000 and Super Étoile de Dakar. The latter group included N'Dour, guitarist Jimi Mbaye, bassist Habib Faye, and tama (talking drum) player Assane Thiam. Super Étoile de Dakar produced four albums on cassette in just a few months and eventually evolved into N'Dour's backing band. By 1991, he had opened his own recording studio, and, by 1995, his own record label, Jololi. ... Source: Article "Youssou N'Dour" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

  • Title: Youssou N'Dour
  • Popularity: 0.959
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1959-10-01
  • Place of Birth: Dakar, Senegal
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Youssou Ndour
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Youssou N'Dour Movies

  • 2004
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    Cirque du Soleil: Midnight Sun

    Cirque du Soleil: Midnight Sun

    8 2004 HD

    On July 11 2004, over 200,000 spectators filled the downtown streets of Montreal to take part in a unique celebration, an incredible one-night-only...

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  • 2005
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    Live 8

    Live 8

    7.2 2005 HD

    On 2 July 2005 an estimated 3 billion people came together in the fight against extreme poverty. LIVE 8 - 10 concerts featuring over 1000 musicians...

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  • 2006
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    Amazing Grace

    Amazing Grace

    6.899 2006 HD

    The true story of William Wilberforce and his courageous quest to end the British slave trade. Along the way, Wilberforce meets intense opposition,...

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  • 1988
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    Bruce Springsteen - Human Rights Final - Buenos Aires

    Bruce Springsteen - Human Rights Final - Buenos Aires

    8 1988 HD

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  • 1991
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    Against Oblivion

    Against Oblivion

    6.5 1991 HD

    Contre l'Oubli (Against Oblivion) is a compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea...

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  • 1987
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    The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball

    The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball

    5 1987 HD

    When the British Amnesty shows finally resumed in 1987 after a six-year hiatus, the show format was retooled in an effort to take advantage of the...

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  • 2008
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    Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

    Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

    8 2008 HD

    Senegalese pop sensation Youssou Ndour has spent the last 20 years in the spotlight as a world-renowned musician and the iconic representative "voice...

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  • 1988
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    Human Rights Now 25th Anniversary

    Human Rights Now 25th Anniversary

    1 1988 HD

    Human rights now concert from Argentina, Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires

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  • 1992
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    Picc Mi

    Picc Mi

    5.2 1992 HD

    Follows the story of two young boys and their adventure through the streets of Africa.

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  • 2018
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    Omar Sy, c'est ta chance

    Omar Sy, c'est ta chance

    6 2018 HD

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  • 1976
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    Mosaïque

    Mosaïque

    9 1976 HD

    Broadcast from 1977 to 1987 on FR3, every Sunday morning, for 1h30, Mosaïque is a variety show with a set where music groups from the countries...

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  • 1991
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    Peter Gabriel - POV

    Peter Gabriel - POV

    1 1991 HD

    An all-Gabriel performance featuring some of Gabriel's own 8mm work, personal footage from the two Amnesty International tours, a trip he took to the...

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  • 2013
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    Peter Gabriel - Live In Athens 1987

    Peter Gabriel - Live In Athens 1987

    7.9 2013 HD

    In October 1987 after many months on the road, it was in the elevated surroundings of the hillside open-air theatre at Lycabettus overlooking Athens...

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  • 2008
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    8

    8

    5.2 2008 HD

    8 shorts centered around 8 themes directed by 8 famous film directors involved and sharing their opinion on progress, on the set-backs and the...

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  • 2007
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    Return to Gorée

    Return to Gorée

    9 2007 HD

    Because jazz is the miraculous product of the horror of slavery, Youssou N'Dour returned to the slave route and the music they created, in search of...

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  • 1970
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    Dreadtown: The Steel Pulse Story

    Dreadtown: The Steel Pulse Story

    1 1970 HD

    They have raged on for forty years, cutting a swath across continents and lighting the fuse of revolutionary thought. From the pressure-cooker...

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  • 1975
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    Xala

    Xala

    6.75 1975 HD

    A rich businessman in Senegal is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife; the only cure is brutal...

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  • 1998
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    The Paris Concert for Amnesty International

    The Paris Concert for Amnesty International

    1 1998 HD

    This production, mounted December 10, 1998, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone underscored...

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  • 2019
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    Africa Rising

    Africa Rising

    7.5 2019 HD

    How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a...

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  • 1988
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    Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute

    Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute

    6 1988 HD

    Wembley Stadium hosts a concert featuring stars from the fields of music, comedy and film, in celebration of the 70th birthday of imprisoned ANC...

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  • 2024
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    Taratata fête les 40 ans de Bercy

    Taratata fête les 40 ans de Bercy

    8 2024 HD

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  • 1991
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    Boxumaleen!!

    Boxumaleen!!

    5 1991 HD

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  • 1998
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    Kirikou and the Sorceress

    Kirikou and the Sorceress

    7.3 1998 HD

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  • 2012
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    The Children's Republic

    The Children's Republic

    8.2 2012 HD

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  • 1985
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    Victoires de la musique

    Victoires de la musique

    2 1985 HD

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  • 2016
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    Wanderlust

    Wanderlust

    1 2016 HD

    Polish-Flemish philosopher Alicja Gescinska interviews national and international personalities with diverse philosophical and religious backgrounds.

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  • 1982
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    Champs-Elysées

    Champs-Elysées

    6.2 1982 HD

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  • 2001
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    Star Academy

    Star Academy

    6.4 2001 HD

    Star Academy is a French reality television show produced by the Dutch company Endemol. It consists of a contest of young singers. It spawned an...

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  • 1998
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    Vivement dimanche

    Vivement dimanche

    3.2 1998 HD

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  • 1993
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    Taratata

    Taratata

    7.5 1993 HD

    Taratata was a French TV show showcasing live and pre-recorded footage of current rock acts. Presented by Nagui since its début in 1993, the...

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