Last year, Raphaël Pannier released his recording Live in Saint Louis, Senegal. When I first listened to it, I liked it because it was something new, the combination of a jazz quartet and an African Sabar drumming group was something that I had never heard before. But I didn’t know how much it would change the next six months of my life. As I wrote in the introduction of Khadim Niang’s interview, my 34-year interest in Doudou N’Diaye Rose stemmed from his record Djabote, and since his death in 2015, I figured that any pathway in learning more about his drumming tradition had died with him. Fortunately, I was wrong. When I saw that Raphaël and Khadim had composed a song called “Hommage to Doudou N’Diaye Rose” my journalistic instincts kicked in, and I started making phone calls. Raphael was kind enough to assist in introducing me to Khadim, and […]

February 2026 Issue