A Wolof music of Senegal. Mbalax is rooted in the rhythms played by medium-sized closed sabar drums and bugarabu drums, punctuated by the proverbs and phrases produced by the tama (a small, double-headed, hourglass talking drum). Dancing, resembling traditional m'balah (wrestling), accompanies many mbalax performances. The music of Youssou N'Dour and his band, the Super Étoile de Dakar, epitomizes the highly charged rhythmic energy produced in mbalax, as does that of Thione Seck and his band. In the 1970s Ismael Lô and Super Diamono played a variation called mbalax blues that appealed to younger audiences, and the Xalam band introduced an extremely popular variation called zouk-mbalax.
Gorée, perf. Xalam, Mélodie CD6656-2 (1983)
Immigrés, perf. Y. N'Dour et le Super Étoile de Dakar, Celluloid CEL 6709 (1988)
W. Bender: ‘The Griot Style’, Sweet Mother: Modern African Music (Chicago, 1991), 1–41
Fari, perf. O. Pene and Super Diamono, Stern STCD 1051 (1993)
GREGORY F. BARZ