Super group goes digital on Menyou

The Super Band Demb Ak Tey – a new Senegalese group with different generations of famous musicians, has released their first album. And the digital version is released, only on Menyou.

The band is formed by Dembel Diop, former Super Diamono´s bass player and leader, Cheikh Tidiane Tall, guitar player from Xalam, and the well known singer Idrissa Diop.

The album that contains eleven titles, are sung in Wolof, the dominant local language. 

 - It’s an acoustic album and we have chosen to be more restrictive with instruments like keyboards etc. as we wanted to stick to the traditional path, with an aim to lighten it up, says Dembel Diop. 

http://menyou.com/collections/601582-demb-ak-tey-demb-ak-tey

Dembel Diop was for many years, bandleader and bass player of the emblematic group of Afro Jazz in Senegal - Super Diamono´s. The group was a bit like the American Jazz/Fusion band Weather Report, in the sense that – during Super Diamono´s era they practically shaped the contemporary music by constantly regrouping the band with different talents from different generations, Ismael Lo, Adama Faye, Oumar Sow, Doudou Konaré etc. 

Cheikh Tidiane Tall is a member and founder of Xalam II. Xalam II is the name of a Senegalese musical band founded in 1969 by a group of friends. Xalam II performed a mix of contemporary jazz tunes as well as African originals, usually sung in Wolof. The band included sax, drums, African percussion, bass and electric guitar. 

In 1981, Xalam II recorded music for the soundtrack of the Epcot African Pavilion videotape in Dakar for the Disney Corporation, to be used at their Epcot site in the US. They also performed at the Dakar Jazz Festival and jammed with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Dexter, Sonny Rollins, and others. In the early 1980s, the band moved to Paris, where they became regulars on the local music scene. http://menyou.com/store?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bstore_id%5D=358&search%5Btitle%5D=xalam&commit=

Idrissa Diop was a member of the famous jazz band Sixun in Paris in the 80s. He has also collaborated with Carlos Santana for whom he wrote the songs Papa and So Ghetto. Idrissa Diop has also during the years been deeply involved in campaigns for street kids and orphans. http://menyou.com/store?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bstore_id%5D=&search%5Btitle%5D=idrissa+diop&commit=

Saxophonist Thierno Kouyaté (who has played with Orchestra Baobab, Youssou N’Dour and Cheikh Lo), is playing on the album. The singer Souleymane Faye, former singer of Xalam, and also Merema a young singer, of whom we will hear more from in the near future, are featured in two songs.

After the album Fatteliku, by Youssou N'Dour (also released on menyou.com) here comes another album with a fusion of traditional and modern music. Demb Ak Tey brings back the genuine african groove that we love to listen to.

http://menyou.com/collections/574864-youssou-n-dour-fatteliku