Pa Touray, Others Honoured

The late Pa Touray of Ifang Bondy (Gambia), late Labah Sosseh (the first African 'disque d'or') and Gorel Niang of the Pigal jazz, were honoured by the Afro Cuban music fans in a ground-swelling festival in Kaolack, Senegal.

For the first time in history, the dinosaurs of the Senegambian salsa music have been honoured and the honour was conferred on them in a mega festival organised by the association of the Senegalese salseros in conjunction with the Alliance-Franco Senegalais to give homage to the brilliant Senegambian tenors of the Afro-Cuban music.

Lati Ben Geloune, President of the association of the Senegalese salseros and a guitarist of Baobab Orchestra, enthused that the salseros have found the necessity to boost up this form of music in the Senegambia region, reform it and to give it a new credibility around the world. The homage festival, he added, was preaching the revival of the nice music.

Geloune concludes:" With the participation of many salsa music stars like Rudi Gomis, Maguette Dione, Balla Sidibe, Nicolas Menem, the Super Star Orchestra, the Prima Jazz and many more bands, the festival aimed to create new sections of fans to replace the Salsa music on the Senegambian music chart like in those old good days when Senegalese and Gambian musicians used to play on the same stage for the same public."