El Hadj N'Diaye's mother comes from the Matam region in the far north of Se… Read Full Bio ↴El Hadj N'Diaye's mother comes from the Matam region in the far north of Senegal, near the border with Mauritania. His father comes from the extreme south, the Cassamance region, where Mande people have fought an on-and-off independence struggle for decades.

In between N'Diaye's two ancestral homes lies the sliver-like nation of Gambia and the Senegal Wolof majority with its center in the crowded, frenetic capital Dakar. Since childhood, N'Diaye has faced the complex task of balancing all of these cultural realities. As a boy, he sold cola nuts in Dakar's Thiaroye market. But he went on to study economics at Cheikh Anta Diop University. Ultimately, it became clear that arts were his true calling, and in addition to his musical career, he went on to act in two important films: "Camp de Thiaroye" and "Guelwar" by the celebrated Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène.

Senegal's El Hadj N'Diaye has created a new style somewhere between protest songs and traditional music. Accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica, he sings about the ravages of urbanization, AIDS, street peddlers and the skin-bleaching creams that young girls use. His songs focus on the burning issues of the day with the help of metaphors and proverbs from the Senegalese oral tradition. —Courtesy Calabash Music

Thiaroye
El Hadj N'Diaye Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by El Hadj N'Diaye:

Bonjour Bonjour comment ça va Et comment va la santé Ey waay wergu…
Géej Geej,geej maboulane Geej,geej,Mbaboulan Geej,geej, Mbaboulan…
Wéet Souma guissatoul dingama xalat ééh xamnaani dinga weeto Soum…
Xaré Yaw dal xamuloma Yaw dal miinuloma Yaw dal gëmmuloma Li mo w…

Xel Xel Xalat ne lu xoll yëgul Yëngu yëngu danel ne guy…
Yu sew yii Yu sew yug ma tábaal mba ma miin ko Gna dem…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS