Paris – Tallinn – Stockholm

Spring has been quite busy until now. Much time has been dedicated to my album which is at a good stage of preparation. Most of the mixing is made in Paris, at Studio Wasia of my friend Diogal. We are also preparing new material for his own album. It’s an interesting venture. While his last album Li La Lan was much more folk, giving large space to his voice and the acoustic guitars, this one will be more orchestral: afro-pop at its best.

Paris is always an exciting place. Much is going on in the musical field and there are many opportunities for musicians to meet and play at the various jam sessions. It was great this time to meet Manu Guerrero, a very talented French-Peruvian keyboard player and pianist who has performed with French and International artists like Celine Dion, Michel Sardou, Garou, Mireille Mathieu, Isabelle Boulay, Taj Mahal, Jef Sicard, Odysseum Sextet …….. We became friends and I’m sure we’ll join together in some project.

Apart from that, I spend much time in Tallinn those days. It has almost become my new home town. Among other things, I’m teaching afro-bass. There is much interest for it, especially among the youth.

Lately, I was part of the 20th JAZZ KAAR, Tallinn International Jazz Festival, that took place from April 18.-26 in Tallinn, Tartu, Viljandi, Pärnu, Haapsalu, Saku, Rõuge, Kuressaare, Paide, Elva, Türi and Rapla. Top musicians from 15 countries performed, giving a total of 57 concerts to more than 15 000 music lovers. I had the pleasure to perform with Paquito D’Rivera, the Cuban music and jazz composer, and Will Calhoun, the widely acclaimed, Grammy-winning drummer from the Bronx. Both were among the special favourites of the Jazzkaar audience together with Angie Stone and Al Jarreau.

As you see, life is going on. I’m leaving now to Stockholm to perform with Assane Mboup, the singer of Ochestra Baobab.

Keep in touch through myspace or tuneyourworld.

Kremlin Tour – March 2009

Time is gone and I almost forgot that some people were waiting for me on my blog. Things are quite fine at the moment, and see me busy in Estonia with new recordings.

I’m also preparing the “Kremlin tour” that will take me, together with Law at keyboards, Jeremie at guitars and Davy at drums, on the road to Russia. We got five dates and it looks good.

We’ll perfom on behalf of Alliance Francaise in the framework of the Semaine de la Francophonie, a yearly event that is held in each French speaking country. You might be surprised to learn that 56 countries are member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, whose chairman is a Senegalese.

NDIOBA & TOPOTO BAND

RUSSIA – MARCH 2009

*Perm : *samedi 21
*Kazan :* lundi 23
*Samara : *mercredi 25
*Togliatti :* jeudi 26
*Saratov : *samedi 28

Well, I’m very excited to play with those guys, who are old friends too.

Thanks to Alliance Francaise, and Rosa.

See you.

Happy New (musical) Year

December is always an amazing time for musicians. A year is gone and it’s time to assess what has been done and to plan what has to come.

Somehow, this year has been full of challenges, the biggest one being the one to produce my debut album. There has been many obstacles, but I believe the main job is done: recording. Now, it’s a matter of cleaning the tracks, mixing and mastering them. I trust that  in 2009 things will go smoother and the album will come out.

In the meantime, you can listen to 9 tracks (live version) on www.cultureload.com .

There are still some free downloads available and I really hope you’ll enjoy them. If you want to join the fanlist or become a friend, feel free to do it. It’s a way to keep in touch.

Another project is my collaboration with my friend DIOGAL. We’ll be on tour again in 2009 to promote his album LiLanLa, and we are making plans for his new album.

The coming year will be an exciting musical year.

Best Season’s Greetings to all, especially those who supported me in 2008.

Fair Trade in Music

I always felt that music and music industry are two different things. And I always felt that there is too much unfairness in the relationship between the artists and people who are in the music business. Being from Senegal, I somehow got used to these unfair relations between so called developed and developing countries. Of course, getting used to it, does not mean that I agree with it. And so far too little has been done to contrast this state of affairs.

In Finland, where I live, fair-trade has been successsful as a niche market. Still, it’s about trade, but ethical values are at the core of scheme. I find very interesting the idea of supporting small farmers in the South to produce organic and healthy goods, and of bringing together producers from the South and consumers from the North to decide together about a fair price.

Fair-Trade usually is associated with coffee, sugar, handycraft from the South. Some people have started to understand that the music industry is in need of it, too. There are too many stories of companies making money on the artists and musicians without redistributing the benefits. No wonder that musicfans turn away from the big record companies and try to find new music in niches as well as on the internet.

These last years, there has been few companies which committed to certain criteria that offer advantages for artists and listeners. Among those criteria, one can find low prices for sound mediums, fair payment of musicians, more artistic freedom.

Still, there is a long road to walk. But the fact that some people are moving in that direction is a good sign.

Personally, I started with Tuneyourworld. Other initiative is the Fair trade Music Network, including NovaTune, Orca Records, Magnatune, 3H Records, Trostlos Records. I also know that in France, there are several initiatives.

If this can help to bring more space for good music and social health of music makers and music fans, I’ll go for it.

Keep me informed about your own experience.

A website can be your album?

In the end of October I performed with Lawrence Hodge and a young drummer from Finland at Kurpiai Jazz club in Klaipeda, Lithuania. It was the first time I performed in trio with them and it was really exciting. We hit the audience and people were very thankful. I’m sure I’ll spend more time to develop the trio format in the future.

On the way, I had many thoughts about my debut album.

It’s now many years I’m preparing it and I’m sure it will still take some time. Self- producing an album is quite a challenge. The key question here seems to me: Do I need an album? Is there any better way to share my music with people and get a living from it?

Some days ago I picked up this article posted by Greg Sandoval on CNET -NEWS where he refers to a keynote address of Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of the band Third Eye Blind, where he said he was in favor of releasing singles and suggested that this would help avoid “album filler”.

Jenkins words where somehow misunderstood, but in the substance the idea was that an act’s Web site can supply the cohesive artistic package that albums once delivered. It makes sense to me (and of course doesn’t exclude the possibility of releasing an album too).

You can read the Sandovval’s full article here, as well as Jenkins’ answer.

Satellit Café – Paris

I’m just back from France where I was on tour with DIOGAL.

We had great shows. Especially in SATELLIT CAFE.

This is an incredible place in Paris. Somehow the embassy of World Music in the capital. No segregation down here. You’ll meet people from all over the world, music lovers with whom having a drink close to the stage or dancing all night long to music from the Balkans, Asia, Africa, Latin America,… There are about three concerts a week.

Don’t miss the place if you’re on a trip in France.

Here is a video shortcut of one song we performed there last may:

Diogal live : “Dokh” au Satellit Café

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Tallinn – Paris – Klaipeda

Last time, I told you about how I’ll try to keep this blog working.

It’s quite a busy period for me, between some touring in France and some recordings in Estonia with my friend Margus. This guy is really into the bass. Check out some of his world class instruments and gears.He also has a small studio in Tallinn. We are working on some new tracks.

About touring in France, I’m joining again for some dates my friend Diogal from Senegal. He is based in Paris area, where he has a small recording studio too. Diogal released his third album in France this year, in which he explores the musical diversity offered by our native country: Senegal. The album is a tribute to the great Malian musician Ali Farka Touré. Some people see Diogal as the bob Dylan of Senegal. He has collaborated with great artists living in France, like Loy Ehrlich (Hadouk Trio), Daby Touré, Lokua Kanza, Wasis Diop, Louis Winsberg (Mike Stern, Eddie Gomez, Mino Cinélu et Paco Sery).

You can listen to some tracks of his album by visiting the following link at diogal.net . There is also some video.

Together with his band, we’ll perform at the following venues and dates in France:

17 octobre
20h30
Mornant (69)
Espace Cuturel Jean Carmet

21 octobre
21h Paris
Satellit Café 6 décembre Vert-le-Petit (91)

In the end of October (30/31), I’m myself performing with a quartet in Lithuania, at Kurpiai Jazz Club in Klaipeda. In a more jazzy and funky mood. Most of the repertoire are my own material. Kurpiai is somehow the most famous jazz club in Lithuania, nicely located in the old town, and Klaipeda is a special place for me.

I performed there two years ago with my Topoto Band at the Jazz Festival . The audience and organizers were really great, and we had exciting jam sessions in the night.

You can watch some video excerpts on myspace.

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Hope to see you around, and if you have any suggestion, comment, topics you would like me to develop, feel free to drop me some lines.

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Endorsement of the month: Blade Bass, courtesy of Millbrook Musiiki OY, Helsinki

About this blog

Hello,

My name is NDIOBA.

I’m a multi-instrumentalist and singer from Senegal, and I made my name in Europe and Africa as a bass player. It’s why people like to call me NDIOBASS.

However, I’m not limited to one style or genre. I love music and I fuse mbalax, jazz, pop, reggae, rap, hip-hop, salsa. Music is a universal language and speaks directly to the heart. Something quite important.

Last night I was chatting over the Internet with my coach, a good guy from Belgium who gives me some help with those online tools. He told me about blogging.

So I decided to try it out and here I’m.

Don’t know what will be the result but it might be a way to get closer to those who want to know more about me and my music.

It’s always a challenge to write down things for a guy like me. In my country, we have great writers but we are people who prefer to communicate with “spoken words”. You know what I mean. There is this traditional say telling that “The letter kills, the spoken word gives live”.

That must be one reason why I became a musician, and a singer too.

So, forgive me if I don’t update those pages as often as you would like. But I promise you, I’ll try my best.

In the meantime, keep in touch through myspace or my mailing list, and sign up at FANBRIDGE. It will take you a minute.

Feel free to leave your comments.

They might be more interesting for people than my own words.

See you soon !