Cheikh Lô April 13, 2012

Full details at http://ums.org/s_current_season/artist.asp?pageid=689
Cheikh Lô is one of the great mavericks of African music. A superb singer and songwriter, as well as a distinctive guitaristand drummer, he has personalized and distilled a variety of influences from West and Central Africa to create a style that is uniquely his own. Lô dedicates both his life and music to Bave Fall, a specifically Senegalese form of Islam and part of the larger Islamic brotherhood of Mouridism, which emerged at the end of the 19th century from opposition to French colonialism. Bave Fall is distinguished visually by patchwork clothes and long dreadlocks that lead some to confuse it with Rastafarianism. Born to Senegalese parents in Burkina Faso near the Malian border, Lô was interested in music from an early age, running away from school to teach himself guitar and percussion on borrowed instruments. As a teenager, he was influenced by Cuban music, which was all the rage in West Africa at the time. After emigrating to Paris and then returning to Senegal in the late 1980s, Lô attracted both the attention of and comparisons to Youssou N’Dour, who produced two of his early albums. His signature sound, based on the popular national mbalax style, was an instant success in Senegal and prompted rave reviews on his European tour: “a compelling performer with energy and personality to match that of the early Bob Marley.” (The Guardian, London) More recently, Lô has immersed himself in the Dakar scene, and his return home is reflected in his new album, Jamm. His signature blend of semi-acoustic flavors — West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco — has been distilled into his most mature, focused, yet diverse statement today, with his husky, sensual voice sounding better than ever.