Étoile de Dakar

Etoile De Dakar ranks among Senegal’s most pivotal ensembles. Its partnership with vocalist Yassour N’Dour, who belonged to the lineup between 1975 and 1978, produced a Latin-tinged variant of African pop that left its mark on Western musicians including Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and David Byrne.

The ensemble’s origins trace to 1960, when Ibra Kasse—proprietor of Dakar’s Miami Club—merged personnel from Guinea Band De Dakar and Star Band De Senui into a single unit first billed as The Star Band. That aggregation attained its peak upon N’Dour’s arrival in 1975, yet fractured three years afterward when several musicians departed alongside him to establish Etoile De Dakar. After moving operations to Paris in 1983, the group adopted the name Super Etoile.