There are four principal Muslim brotherhoods in Senegal. I’ve talked a lot about the Muridiyya, but little about the other brotherhoods here. One night I happened to witness a Qadiri celebration. The Qadiriyya celebrate with beautiful song, infectious beats and enticing rhythms but no dancing. I was really surprised that at some of the best music I’d heard here, there was hand clapping but no dancing…It was late one night after a social that Dudu and I heard a woman’s voice singing over the speakers being loudly amplified across the quartier. It was one loud system and underpinning it all was the thick resonating thud of the drums. I was eager to discover what this was. Dudu read my mind and said we should go and track down where this fete was. We were excited, following the music there, a musical maze. We turned sand street after sand street until there ahead of us was a covered canopy at the end of a street. There were powerful bright lights rigged up illuminating the whole area. In the middle of the covered area sat the women in a circle chanting with two singers leading the way. I was taken aback as the singing was so good that at first I thought they were playing a recording over the speakers. I wasn’t sure whether we should approach but Dudu reassured me that it was fine, so we got closer. To the left sat the sound technician sat above a huge mixing desk and speakers and to the right were sat various drummers in different positions. One drummer who I presumed was the lead drummer was stood upright and battered the sabar at first with a stick in one hand and then with sticks in both hands forcefully.
It was an electric atmosphere. The passion and focus was unbelievable. The women sang louder and faster and as they sang the rhythm upped tempo and got even louder too. The song built to a crescendo. It was pure joy. It reminded me why music is so important, it brought me alive. I turned to a nice elderly gentleman to my right and asked him what the celebration was. It was the celebration of the birth of Muhammad PBUH. The gentleman touched my arm and gestured to the group of women. ‘That’s my wife with the microphone, she is the lead singer.’ His eyes twinkled and he wore such a proud expression. He had a look of deep love on his face that I found very endearing and I admired it. I wanted to take a snapshot of that very expression so I did with my own eyes and memory, I hope I always remember that look.
Dudu and I left soon afterwards. We talked about the different brotherhoods here in Senegal: the Qadiriyya, the Layene, the Muridiyya and the Tidjaniyya. These brotherhoods celebrate Muslim festivities in slightly different ways. There are many different ethnic groups in Senegal, and many different languages spoken too including Wolof (the largest group and the common language spoken by most people), Peul (the language Haalpulaar), Diola, and Bambara to name a few. Your surname here usually indicates your ethnic group, for example, I took the name of my Grandmother here which is Camara, a distinctly Bambara name. The ‘name’ of Senegal is Ndiaye, which is a Wolof word. Sow seems to be a Peul name, and so on, I learn more and more everyday. What is great though is that all these groups of people live together in harmony, but the differences are lovely, I’m completely won over by the different languages here. This weekend Insha’Allah I’m visiting a Peul village near Saint Louis to meet the people and learn the lingo. I’ll keep you posted, from Saint Louis with Love. xx
Senegal Story Box 