Senegal never left me,” Alune Wade said to Mshale in a recent interview. Born in Dakar, capital of Senegal, now living in Paris, traveling around the globe touring with bass guitar in one hand and a microphone in the other, this versatile musician’s heart still beats for his beloved Africa.
He switches with ease from French to English to Wolof. Despite his mastery of a multi-cultural life, “I’m still in Senegal even if I am in Paris,” he insisted. “My soul, my body, everything, is still in Senegal. I never left.”
Nonetheless, he’ll kick off his North American tour on November 19th when he and his band take the stage at The Cedar Cultural Center. It’s their first time at The Cedar, but nine years ago, Wade played with with the López-Nussa brothers at the Dakota.
This year his show will highlight his latest album New African Orléans.
“On combining Senegalese music with New Orleans Jazz,” Wade said, “I think it was very natural. When I was a child in Senegal, we used to listen to a bunch of different music from all over the world, classical music because my father was a classical musician in the Senegal Army – We’d listen to a bit of Mozart, John Sebastian Bach at home—but also my uncles were musicians. My uncle was playing and listening to reggae and jazz and scat music. My sisters listened to pop music from Europe and the United States.”
Wade announced on InstaGram that his latest album was officially up for consideration for Best Global Music Album. Recorded in Paris, Dakar, Lagos and New Orleans, it covers as much musical ground as it does geographical ground.
Wade said echoing his InstaGram page, “This project is more than just music — it’s a cultural bridge between Africa and New Orleans. A celebration of our roots, our rhythms, and our resistance. It tells stories of migration, resilience, and rebirth — through sound.”
Over our Sunday morning Zoom connection, Wade said, “You know, my music is not just Senegalese, but east Dakar” – the westernmost point of mainland Africa – “because a lot of things happen in Dakar, music from Congo, from Mali, from France, this is the music of Dakar. That’s why I say, the choice [New African Orleans] was very natural.”
Some of the songs we might hear at The Cedar in November include Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya, Boogie and Juju, and a reimagined Watermelon Man, pull from Wade’s roots and combine with his early years as a professional musician.
When he was 18 years old, he said he was lucky, but he already had the chops to be selected to “play with one of the best African artists at that time in the 1990s, Ismaël Lô. We did a lot, all these magnificent musicians going all over the world. That was my school. That made me what I am today.”
Since that time, he’s played with many renown musicians from all over the world, becoming one himself.
“That’s why I say we absorb a lot of culture from other people. That’s why we’re more eclectic, more rich for the things we learn from the other people,” Wade said, describing how his musical style and sound developed.
In the end, though, Alune Wade’s performance November 19th will be not only unforgettable, but decisively unique.
“The base of my music,” ensures Wade, “is still African.”
Tickets available here for his show at The Cedar Cultural Center on Wednesday, November 19th. Doors open at 7 pm and show starts at 7:30 pm.
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About Susan Budig
Susan is based in Minneapolis and reports on general assignments for Mshale with a focus on entertainment. In addition to reporting, she is also a writer, poet, teacher and coach.
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