BIOGRAPHY
Born in Senegal in 1963 by a family of griots, known for being the conservators of the African cultural and musical tradition. After his humanistic studies in his country he left for Europe. He lives in Bergamo where he has been teaching African percussions for many years. From 2017 he collaborates on a permanent basis with the Art Ensemble of Chicago with Roscoe Mitchell and Don Moye
He holds seminars on the history of traditional African instruments trying to trace the territorial boundaries of the populations and disseminating the African cultural tradition through tales of musical fairy tales.
Multi-instrumentalist musician, plays in different musical groups and not only. He plays Afro-jazz, modern, traditional and contemporary music. The constant search for sound (sound of elements), always pushes him towards new and interesting experiences in the world of music.
Recognized validator of traditional instruments and especially percussion, he managed to find their insertion within diversified musical contexts.
In 2018 he released the album “Africation” in which Dudù plays the role assigned to him by tradition and makes him re-live in a modern and multicultural way: the songs are mainly sung in his mother tongue, Wolof, with some reference to Bambarà phrases in French and Italian, and express an intense emotional charge also thanks to the use of new and original sounds. Says the Senegalese artist “I was born a percussionist but over time I have also explored other string and wind instruments. This album is born from a need to start from myself, it is a kind of introspective journey that opens a new phase of my life “.
In addition to the texts of the individual tracks, what strikes Africation is the fact of being shaped on a symphony of instruments, a polyphony that creates magical and re-evocative atmospheres: from the berber lute (xalam) to the kanjira, from the djembè to the traditional African wind instruments and to the didgeridoo that symbolically kidnap the listener bringing him into an unexplored and involving dimension.
Dudù takes the listener by the hand and with his gaze accompanies him on a virtual journey in the African sounds reworked with style and originality: the changes of rhythms and harmonies make the flight take off to the emotions. This perspective allows us to see, almost ideally, the suburbs of Dakar, the natural landscapes, the savannah, the desert, the villages and the stories of humanity.
Collaborations
– With the saxophonist Bergamasco Guido Bombardieri founded the duo “Pensieri Africani”
– He is the founder of the trio Zayt and Komiel
– He works regularly with the Odwalla and Multikulti groups and with many other italian and european musicians