Youssou N'Dour, one of Africa's (and the world's) greatest singers, makes a welcome return to Japan this month. The last time he was in Japan was for the 1994 WOMAD festival in Yokohama. World music was still on a roll back then, with some African artists such as Papa Wemba becoming genuinely "big in Japan." Sadly, as with most fads, the boom inevitably went bust.
The period of mourning seems to be over at last. With top acts such as Nigeria's Femi Kuti, Mali's Habib Koite and now Senegal's Youssou N'Dour visiting in recent months, Japan seems once again to be on the tour itinerary of some big artists.
N'Dour doesn't just have a great voice, he is the voice of modern urban Africa. With his soulful and soaring singing, he can tease out a delectable melody or take up a fervent refrain with that indefinable sense of yearning that just isn't there in most Western music. Around that voice, the tama (talking drum), punctuates across the beat in short phrases, a stick cracks out a rhythm on the sabar drum, while guitars, bass, keyboards and horns add touches of jazz and soul.