Biography
Cheikh Lô, born Cheikh N'Digel Lô, has eased Western access to Senegal’s layered mbalax dance music. By softening mbalax’s sharper contours and blending in salsa, Zairian/Congolese rhumba, folk, and jazz, he has shaped a catchy, melody-driven form of pop. Roots World characterized his approach with the observation “complemented by the acoustic guitar, exploding tama, and free-falling electric bass, Lô's voice has a rounded sweetness with poetic hills and valleys,” while Real Groove Magazine observed, “with its enigmatic complexity and so non 4/4 beat, mbalax has had difficulty outside West Africa. Where even N'Dour's overdone attempts to counter this problem have failed, [Lô] has succeeded. His acoustic approach gives a magic mbalax music that my friends can appreciate.” Cora Correction likewise noted, “West Africa has produced the continent's most powerful singers and Lô easily earns a high position in the pantheon.”
Born in Bobo-Dioulasso, a modest settlement near the Senegal-Mali frontier, Lô is the son of a prosperous jeweler. He grew up fluent in Bambara, Wolof, and French. As a child he developed a passion for music and learned drums and guitar on his own. In 1976 he accepted an invitation to play percussion with the local ensemble Orchestra Volta Jazz, remaining until he relocated to Dakar in 1980.
Once in the capital, Lô immersed himself in its musical circles. After drumming for three years with the progressive singer Ouza, he entered the house band at the Hotel Savana in 1984; though his tenure lasted just over a year, the engagement introduced him to an array of international pop styles.
Lô moved to France in 1985 and worked as a session drummer in Paris. He soon bought his first guitar and began composing songs. A project with Ivoirian and French musicians begun in 1987 collapsed before completion. His first solo release, Doxandeme (Immigrants), appeared on cassette in 1990; despite earning a Nouveau Talent prize, the album did not meet his creative goals. He started a follow-up but abandoned it in frustration and kept a low profile for the next four years.
In 1995 Lô persuaded Youssou N’Dour—whom he had first met in 1989 while recording with the traditional Wolof griot singer N’diaga M’baye—to produce an album. Ne La Thiass emerged on N’Dour’s Jololi imprint shortly before Lô joined the Jololi Revue tour in November 1996. He continued supporting the record with a European run in April 1997 alongside his eight-piece group N’Diguel. That same year he collected Best Newcomer and Kora All-American honors in South Africa. Africa Fete featured him in the United States in 1998, and the following year Senegal’s president awarded him the Ordre National de Merite de Leon. He resumed recording with Bambay Gueej in 2000; the title, translating as “bamba, ocean of peace,” was co-produced by Nick Gold and Youssou N’Dour. Lamp Fall arrived on Nonesuch Records in 2006.
Born in Bobo-Dioulasso, a modest settlement near the Senegal-Mali frontier, Lô is the son of a prosperous jeweler. He grew up fluent in Bambara, Wolof, and French. As a child he developed a passion for music and learned drums and guitar on his own. In 1976 he accepted an invitation to play percussion with the local ensemble Orchestra Volta Jazz, remaining until he relocated to Dakar in 1980.
Once in the capital, Lô immersed himself in its musical circles. After drumming for three years with the progressive singer Ouza, he entered the house band at the Hotel Savana in 1984; though his tenure lasted just over a year, the engagement introduced him to an array of international pop styles.
Lô moved to France in 1985 and worked as a session drummer in Paris. He soon bought his first guitar and began composing songs. A project with Ivoirian and French musicians begun in 1987 collapsed before completion. His first solo release, Doxandeme (Immigrants), appeared on cassette in 1990; despite earning a Nouveau Talent prize, the album did not meet his creative goals. He started a follow-up but abandoned it in frustration and kept a low profile for the next four years.
In 1995 Lô persuaded Youssou N’Dour—whom he had first met in 1989 while recording with the traditional Wolof griot singer N’diaga M’baye—to produce an album. Ne La Thiass emerged on N’Dour’s Jololi imprint shortly before Lô joined the Jololi Revue tour in November 1996. He continued supporting the record with a European run in April 1997 alongside his eight-piece group N’Diguel. That same year he collected Best Newcomer and Kora All-American honors in South Africa. Africa Fete featured him in the United States in 1998, and the following year Senegal’s president awarded him the Ordre National de Merite de Leon. He resumed recording with Bambay Gueej in 2000; the title, translating as “bamba, ocean of peace,” was co-produced by Nick Gold and Youssou N’Dour. Lamp Fall arrived on Nonesuch Records in 2006.
Albums