By Henry Akubuiro
Melophiles and fans of the Mbalax music genre converged on London’s Green Note cafe on Friday, May 16, to watch the spellbinding performance of the Senegalese band, Jam Groove, on stage. It was an exhilarating experience for the music lovers who paid to enjoy good music. And the group made each rendering a showstopper.
Jam Groove was founded by Senegalese musicians Oumar Diagne (drummer) and Assane Ba (bassist). Both have 45 years’ combined experience touring the world with some of Senegal’s greats – Thione Seck, Ndongo Lo, Fatou Guewel and Doudou Sow, to name a few. Based in London, they have performed with Diabel Cissokho at Royal Festival Hall, Band on the Wall, Jazz Café, Africa Oye, Mangrove Jazz Festival, WOMAD and many more. Of course, Oumar has music running in his blood as the son of Bassirou Diagne, a founding member of Super Diamono.
Doors at London’s Green Note cafe were flung open at 7pm last Friday, with the music performance starting two hours later. The venue had both sitting and standing arrangements. Jam Groove performed songs from their 2021 Diaxax album, rendered in Wolof language with Serer chants. The wailing voice of the lead singer reminded all about the effortless rendering of the legendary Senagele superstar, Youssou Ndour.
If Jam Groove set out to win new fans at Green Note cafe, it succeeded, as it set many people present on their feet for a long while. The band sang each song as a story, typical of Mbalax songs. The majority of those in the audience couldn’t understand Wolof, but the rhythms moved them to shuffle their feet and clap to the engrossing sonics. The body language of the singer and the percussion, too, communicated the unspoken messages of the songs to the enraptured audience to jive.
What Afrobeats is to Nigeria and Ghana, Mbalax, the urban dance music of Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania in West Africa, is also. The musical style is rooted in the indigenous instrumental and vocal styles accompanied by polyrhythmic sabar drumming of the Wolof. Originally performed as songs of celebration and resistance and rooted in community rituals, Mbalax has found a new lease of life on the global stage with its telling vibes.
Diaxas is the group’s only known album. It was recorded in Dakar with high profile collaborations featuring some of West Africa’s music idols: Alain Ayono from Youssou N’dour’s Super Etoile group, Assane Ndoye guitarist with Baaba Maal, Papis Ndiaye keyboardist with Wally Seck, Maguette Fall percussionist with Angelique Kidjo, Cheikh Anta Ndiaye percussionist with Wally Seck and formerly of Positive Black Soul, Vieux Sall vocalist and Destine a Congolese singer/songwriter based in London formerly worked with Afro jazz band, Ayetoro.
Mbalax emerged in the 1970s when Senegalese pioneers blended sabar rhythms with urban dance music from abroad – jazz soul, sasa, rumba, and rock – resulting in a unique music played with the electric bass, guitar and keyboards.
The Jam Groove current UK band of four has Bache Gueye as lead vocalist; he just performed on the main stage at Africa Oye. The band also includes the percussionist, Mamadou Sarr; the keyboardist, Jjoon Ho Wantete; Assane Ba, who is in charge of bass; and Oumar Diagne, who oversees the drums. The group has been compared with Jamaica’s Sly & Robbie.