Youssou N’Dour & Le Super Etoile de Dakar: Fatteliku Live in Athens 1987

Richard Gehr on January 25, 2016

Opening acts seldom release live albums. But all bets were off when youngish Senegalese star Youssou N’Dour and his Super Étoile de Dakar group—featuring chattering talking drums, saxophone, guitar and bass virtuoso Habib Faye—hit the road with Peter Gabriel in 1987. Fatteliku (Real World) captures Youssou in Athens, Greece, in full glorious throat and leading a band that takes mbalax, the unstoppable sound of traditional sabar drumming mixed with Western rock and jazz, to its skittering kitten-on-ice limits. The disc includes both the Super Étoile’s 45-minute set and its later appearance with Gabriel during a 10-minute “In Your Eyes.”

Artist: Youssou N'Dour & Le Super Etoile de Dakar (Artist)
Album: Fatteliku