Senegal needs to free itself, to rediscover its democracy.

Music is a language.

I don’t really see myself as an actor.

Western record companies haven’t always dealt with African musicians in the best way. Giving them a lot of money and telling them they’re going to be bigger than Phil Collins is the wrong way to do it!

I want to use my music to deliver a political message and sometimes to denounce, but I don’t want to be a politician.

I’m a modern Muslim. I pray, and if I have a question, I ask someone who is more educated in the religion than me.

I don’t want to see that two-tier Senegal, that two-tier Africa, when you have those at the top and those at the bottom, people who are hungry, people who do not have enough to eat.

People need to see that, far from being an obstacle, the world’s diversity of languages, religions and traditions is a great treasure, affording us precious opportunities to recognize ourselves in others.

I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas – it’s always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.

My father used to tell me about how musicians don’t have respect from people and he was afraid about my future.