In Wolof, tukki means journey, which is what the audience at The Cedar went on with Senegalese musician Alune Wade and his band on Wednesday evening. Our trip started with viewing a portion of TUKKI: From the Roots to the Bayou, a film that the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) awarded Best International Documentary earlier this year.
As our eyes traveled from Wade’s birth place in Dakar, Senegal, we continued to Saint-Louis, Senegal and Lagos, Nigeria, then to Accra, Ghana, and Paris, France where Wade now lives. We ended up in NOLA and could better understand how the tendrils of jazz, so iconically New Orleans, sprang from across the Atlantic.
As the film ended, the musicians promptly took over the stage and played Night Tripper and Watermelon Man, both off their latest album, New African Orleans before moving on to a broad selection of numbers from other Alune Wade albums.
The band represents diversity of cultural roots with drummer Alix Goffic who hails from Cayenne, French Guiana; Cédric Duchemann on keyboards from the capital city of Réunion island; from Lagos, Nigeria Victor Ademofe on trumpet, talking drum, and a bata, which is a trio of small drums linked together. Harry Ahonlonsou on both tenor and soprano saxophone makes his home in Benin.
The first 20 minutes of their set is all acoustic. Then Wade starts talking.
“How was the movie,” he asks. We respond with appreciative clapping. “As musicians, we are storytellers,” he says, “and it’s time to tell our story.”
Through both the film, which he directed along with French filmmaker, Vincent Le Gal, and the songs he performs, he seeks to start up a conversation about the beginnings and evolution of jazz.
When they play Saba’s Journey, the music takes on a dreamy quality, as if we are being read a story about an enchanted world. When they perform 12 Bells, Wade tells us it’s the story of a very tiny island west of Senegal. It’s the story of trans-Atlantic human trafficking, from Gorée Island to the Americas, a story about the loss of home, loss of freedom.
“We sing not just to remember, but to resist,” he calls out.
Wade’s voice soars with this song, sounding like the chime of bells. The visual on the screen is of a garden with statues including a woman holding up a baby. It’s bittersweet.
In the second half of the two and a half hour show in which there is no intermission, Wade convinces us to dance. They play Boogie & Juju, a mix of highlife, boogie, and juju music from West Africa.
“Boogie and Juju are brother and sister,” he says, “if you like it, you have to dance.”
Most of the audience are on their feet. Then the band starts to move as if they are in a dance line. The feeling is like the grand finale of a fireworks show, but the show’s not over yet.
The penultimate song is a lullaby. “Just close your eyes and make believe you are in Africa. We are in the south of Senegal on an island,” Wade croons.
The encore doesn’t start until after 10 pm. It’s a full evening.
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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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