Habib Faye
Encyclopedia
Habib Faye is a bassist, keyboardist, composer and grammy-nominated producer from Senegal
. He is mostly known as the musical director for Youssou N'dour
's Super Étoile de Dakar. He is one of the most talented African bassists of the last quarter century.
He has been playing the bass and producing music for Super Etoile since 1984 or earlier. He is believed to have picked up the bass at age 13, but started his musical exploration at age 9, thanks to his older brother, Vieux Mac Faye, who is an accomplished guitarist himself. His other brothers are musicians as well. Lamine Faye is one of Senegal's most popular and respected guitar players, and for a long time was a member of Super Diamono, before he left to form his own band, Lemzo Diamono, in 1991. Adama Faye, who died in 2005, is regarded as one of the pioneers of keyboard playing in Senegal. He was one of the founding members of Super Diamono and also played keys for Super Etoile back in the 80's. The Faye brothers are, in many ways, very similar to the Wooten brothers, although they never formed a band.
Super Etoile is one of Africa’s best live bands, and they have been traveling all over the world for nearly three decades. In fact, in November 2007, music critic Robert Christgau
said on NPR's All Songs Considered
that he believed Youssou N'Dour's band is the world's best live band. Habib Faye cites the Amnesty International's "Human Rights Now" world tour in 1988 as maybe his most rewarding time as a musician. He says that it allowed him to grow as a bassist as he got to share the stage with music icons, such as Peter Gabriel
, Sting, Tracy Chapman
, and Bruce Springsteen
. It is also in the middle of that tour that the album The Lion, in which Peter Gabriel participated, was recorded. Gabriel would invite Habib to join him on other records of his own later on.
In 1996, Mickey Hart
hired him to play bass parts on his Mystery Box http://www.answers.com/topic/mickey-hart-s-mystery-box album. Habib Faye's resume also includes playing alongside a wide range of artists like Manu Katche
, Mokhtar Samba, Joe Zawinul
, Paco Sery
, Gilberto Gil
, Chet atkins
, Mark Knopfler
, Branford Marsalis
, Poogie Bell, David Sancious
, Lionel Loueke
, Tania St Val, Jacob Devarieux, David Sanborn
, Brazil's Carlinhos Brown
, just to name a few. He has produced albums for Senegal’s top-selling artists such as Viviane N’Dour and Kiné Lam.
In Senegal, he is regarded as a true genius as he has taken the bass to a completely new level in this West African nation. He is one of bass players in Senegal that brought the bass to the forefront and made it an instrument to be reckoned with. The song Bekoor, from Youssou N’Dour’s 1984 album Badou, is a reference for many Senegalese bassists. He has produced virtually every Youssou N’Dour album since 1984, including the acclaimed 1994 The Guide. In addition to having years of gigging under his belt, producing and touring with Super Étoile, he has been involved in many musical projects in Senegal, working with local artists. The latest is Abdou Guité Seck, Wock’s former vocalist, who is now pursuing a solo career. His latest album is slated for release later this year.
Habib's forte is his versatility. He grew up in an environment where music had no boundaries. His parents grew up dancing Salsa and rock ‘n’ roll. He also grew up seeing his older brothers experimenting with jazz and blues sonorities. He can virtually play any style, from the rootsiest Mbalax
(Senegal's predominant musical style) to the grooviest Funk, not to mention Afrobeat and jazz.
Harmattan, the first band he founded, was one of the headlining acts at the 1998 edition of Saint-Louis International Jazz Festival, Senegal, one of the most prominent jazz festivals in Africa.In recent years, Habib has been focusing on a the new Afro-jazz band he occasionally puts together, Habib Faye Quartet. The line-up changes sometimes.
As far as his music philosophy is concerned, he explains that he is not trying to compete with jazz musicians or do pure jazz, but he tries to bring two different worlds together, i.e. the richness of the African sound and the world of jazz. He takes the blend of African music and jazz to a new level adding traditional African instruments such as Kora
, Sabar
, Tama
, and lesser-known ones. African music being very percussion-oriented, Habib developed a technique where he can often be heard playing percussion parts on his bass. That has the effect of making his sound far more rhythmic and distinctive. His brand of Mbalax that can be heard in most Youssou N’Dour albums, especially those released on the Senegalese market, puts percussive bass playing to the fore. With that he gives more power to the afore-mentioned African traditional instruments. His experiments culminated into the release of a live album, only available in Senegal, Special tribute to Jaco Pastorius
, Live at "Central Park" Dakar. You can hear him on the album revisit some of Jaco’s best known lines during his Weather Report
years, adding an African twist to it.
Habib Faye’s musicianship doesn’t stop at the bass; he is also an experienced keyboard player. He can be heard playing keyboard bass on countless Super Étoile tunes. He is one of the finest keyboard bassists out there. He pioneered marimba keyboard playing in Senegalese music, and it is the most popular style in Senegal right now. Paradoxically, he thinks that producers are now stuck with it and seem not to want to look further. The lack of creativity on the part of some Senegalese musical directors worries him particularly. His work on guitar is no less important. All of that is evidenced in Youssou N’Dour's Live at Union Chapel DVD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Youssou-NDour-Live-Union-Chapel/dp/B0000CNTHZ released in 2003.
In 2006, Habib flew to New York to work with Angelique Kidjo
on her latest album, Djin Djin http://www.kidjo.com/, released on May 1, 2007. Kidjo's website credits him as the "Senegalese bass giant". Djin Djin, which won a Grammy award in 2008, features a myriad of stars, such as Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Josh Groban, and Branford Marsalis. Habib is currently touring with Angelique Kidjo, and has been since last year. They recently played the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
In March 2008, Habib Faye continued his jazz experiments when he brought Lionel Loueke
, Herbie Hancock
’s guitar player, and Mokhtar Samba, one of Africa’s premier drummers, to Dakar for a series of Afro-jazz concerts. The act was dubbed the “trio magique.”
Habib endorsed De Gier http://www.degiergitaarbouw.nl/ basses in July 2008. The Dutch guitar maker credits him on its website as “an amazing bass player”.
Habib Faye is currently working on his debut album that was initially slated for release in 2009, but is still in the works.
ile:
Category:Senegalese musicians
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Living people
Category:Serer people
Category:Serer history
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
. He is mostly known as the musical director for Youssou N'dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
's Super Étoile de Dakar. He is one of the most talented African bassists of the last quarter century.
He has been playing the bass and producing music for Super Etoile since 1984 or earlier. He is believed to have picked up the bass at age 13, but started his musical exploration at age 9, thanks to his older brother, Vieux Mac Faye, who is an accomplished guitarist himself. His other brothers are musicians as well. Lamine Faye is one of Senegal's most popular and respected guitar players, and for a long time was a member of Super Diamono, before he left to form his own band, Lemzo Diamono, in 1991. Adama Faye, who died in 2005, is regarded as one of the pioneers of keyboard playing in Senegal. He was one of the founding members of Super Diamono and also played keys for Super Etoile back in the 80's. The Faye brothers are, in many ways, very similar to the Wooten brothers, although they never formed a band.
Super Etoile is one of Africa’s best live bands, and they have been traveling all over the world for nearly three decades. In fact, in November 2007, music critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
said on NPR's All Songs Considered
All Songs Considered
All Songs Considered is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's All Things Considered director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on All Things Considered. The program has turned into a source of...
that he believed Youssou N'Dour's band is the world's best live band. Habib Faye cites the Amnesty International's "Human Rights Now" world tour in 1988 as maybe his most rewarding time as a musician. He says that it allowed him to grow as a bassist as he got to share the stage with music icons, such as Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Sting, Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
, and Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
. It is also in the middle of that tour that the album The Lion, in which Peter Gabriel participated, was recorded. Gabriel would invite Habib to join him on other records of his own later on.
In 1996, Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart is an American percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band the Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 to February 1971, and from October 1974 to August 1995...
hired him to play bass parts on his Mystery Box http://www.answers.com/topic/mickey-hart-s-mystery-box album. Habib Faye's resume also includes playing alongside a wide range of artists like Manu Katche
Manu Katché
Manu Katché is a French musician of Ivorian origin, born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on 27 October 1958. He is a drummer and songwriter.-Career:Session musician...
, Mokhtar Samba, Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
, Paco Sery
Paco Sery
Paco Sery is a world music and jazz fusion drummer. He has played with Joe Zawinul and Eddy Louiss. He also has his own band, releasing his first solo album, Voyages, in 2000.-With Sixun:*2008 Palabre...
, Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
, Chet atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
, Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...
, Poogie Bell, David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
, Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
, Tania St Val, Jacob Devarieux, David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Brazil's Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
, just to name a few. He has produced albums for Senegal’s top-selling artists such as Viviane N’Dour and Kiné Lam.
In Senegal, he is regarded as a true genius as he has taken the bass to a completely new level in this West African nation. He is one of bass players in Senegal that brought the bass to the forefront and made it an instrument to be reckoned with. The song Bekoor, from Youssou N’Dour’s 1984 album Badou, is a reference for many Senegalese bassists. He has produced virtually every Youssou N’Dour album since 1984, including the acclaimed 1994 The Guide. In addition to having years of gigging under his belt, producing and touring with Super Étoile, he has been involved in many musical projects in Senegal, working with local artists. The latest is Abdou Guité Seck, Wock’s former vocalist, who is now pursuing a solo career. His latest album is slated for release later this year.
Habib's forte is his versatility. He grew up in an environment where music had no boundaries. His parents grew up dancing Salsa and rock ‘n’ roll. He also grew up seeing his older brothers experimenting with jazz and blues sonorities. He can virtually play any style, from the rootsiest Mbalax
Mbalax
Mbalax is the national popular dance music of Senegal and The Gambia. Mbalax is a fusion of popular Western music and dance such as jazz, soul, Latin, and rock blended with sabar, the traditional drumming and dance music of Senegal...
(Senegal's predominant musical style) to the grooviest Funk, not to mention Afrobeat and jazz.
Harmattan, the first band he founded, was one of the headlining acts at the 1998 edition of Saint-Louis International Jazz Festival, Senegal, one of the most prominent jazz festivals in Africa.In recent years, Habib has been focusing on a the new Afro-jazz band he occasionally puts together, Habib Faye Quartet. The line-up changes sometimes.
As far as his music philosophy is concerned, he explains that he is not trying to compete with jazz musicians or do pure jazz, but he tries to bring two different worlds together, i.e. the richness of the African sound and the world of jazz. He takes the blend of African music and jazz to a new level adding traditional African instruments such as Kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
, Sabar
Sabar
The sabar - from the Serer people in origin, is traditional drum from the West African nation of Senegal. It is generally played with one hand and one stick. Among its most renowned exponents is the Senegalese musician Doudou N'Diaye Rose. The sabar was used to communicate to other villages...
, Tama
Tama
-Religion:* Tama , part of the soul in the Japanese Shinto faith, roughly equivalent to ghost, spirit, or soul* Tama , a votive deposit or ex-voto used in the Eastern Orthodox Churches...
, and lesser-known ones. African music being very percussion-oriented, Habib developed a technique where he can often be heard playing percussion parts on his bass. That has the effect of making his sound far more rhythmic and distinctive. His brand of Mbalax that can be heard in most Youssou N’Dour albums, especially those released on the Senegalese market, puts percussive bass playing to the fore. With that he gives more power to the afore-mentioned African traditional instruments. His experiments culminated into the release of a live album, only available in Senegal, Special tribute to Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
, Live at "Central Park" Dakar. You can hear him on the album revisit some of Jaco’s best known lines during his Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
years, adding an African twist to it.
Habib Faye’s musicianship doesn’t stop at the bass; he is also an experienced keyboard player. He can be heard playing keyboard bass on countless Super Étoile tunes. He is one of the finest keyboard bassists out there. He pioneered marimba keyboard playing in Senegalese music, and it is the most popular style in Senegal right now. Paradoxically, he thinks that producers are now stuck with it and seem not to want to look further. The lack of creativity on the part of some Senegalese musical directors worries him particularly. His work on guitar is no less important. All of that is evidenced in Youssou N’Dour's Live at Union Chapel DVD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Youssou-NDour-Live-Union-Chapel/dp/B0000CNTHZ released in 2003.
In 2006, Habib flew to New York to work with Angelique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, commonly known as Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva". The BBC has...
on her latest album, Djin Djin http://www.kidjo.com/, released on May 1, 2007. Kidjo's website credits him as the "Senegalese bass giant". Djin Djin, which won a Grammy award in 2008, features a myriad of stars, such as Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Josh Groban, and Branford Marsalis. Habib is currently touring with Angelique Kidjo, and has been since last year. They recently played the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
In March 2008, Habib Faye continued his jazz experiments when he brought Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke
Lionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
’s guitar player, and Mokhtar Samba, one of Africa’s premier drummers, to Dakar for a series of Afro-jazz concerts. The act was dubbed the “trio magique.”
Habib endorsed De Gier http://www.degiergitaarbouw.nl/ basses in July 2008. The Dutch guitar maker credits him on its website as “an amazing bass player”.
Habib Faye is currently working on his debut album that was initially slated for release in 2009, but is still in the works.
ile:
Category:Senegalese musicians
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Living people
Category:Serer people
Category:Serer history