INTERVIEW : NIOMINKA BI
Interview by : Sebastien Jobart
Pictures by : DR
on Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 10 429 views
Seven years is, on average, the time it takes Niominka Bi, aka Souleyman Sarr, to write a new album. Since his debut in France in 1982, which is to say an eternity, the Senegalese singer based in Bordeaux has recorded only three albums. After Boucherie and Mediacom, it is Makasound that houses the fourth, "Salam Shalom", recorded between France and Jamaica, with his old friend Winston McAnuff & Cedric Myton (The Congos). Encounters that already provide enough to feed a next album. This time, he promises us, we won't wait seven years.
Reggaefrance / Before arriving in France in 1982, you had an unusual trajectory: you had previously been a Blue Helmet in the Senegalese army. You even went to Lebanon.
Niominka Bi / My father was a soldier, which may have influenced me a little. Few people know it, but there have been a lot of Lebanese people in Senegal for a very long time. Many of my friends were Lebanese. I wanted to go to Lebanon because I thought I could be of some use, work for universal peace. I believed in that.
How long did you stay there?
In Lebanon, nine months, but I still stayed three and a half years in the army, I thought I would make a career of it. But my trip to Lebanon opened my eyes. At the start I thought the Blue Helmets served a purpose, that they were sent to countries with problems, and that they were there to help the people. In fact we did nothing at all, all that happened was that we got bombed. We got killed, basically. The Blue Helmets have no right to retaliate, and besides we had a machine gun while the others were bombing you with cannons and planes. I understood that it's a kind of game: they put Blue Helmets there to say that something is being done, but it serves no purpose. It really disappointed me. That's why I left the army.
Your first album came out in 1992 on Boucheries Productions, the famous alternative label with more of a taste for rock and punk…
François (Hadji-Lazaro, founder of the label and a figure of the Parisian underground, Ed.) was a wine collector, so he often came to Bordeaux. We had friends in common, at whose place he came across some tracks of mine. When he heard it, he was interested in producing it. Everybody was surprised: Boucherie, the underground label that does rock and punk, signing a reggae band, it was unlikely! With them, we played a lot, we did quite a few dates. After the second album we left for Africa, which made a break. And then it took us a while to put out a new album, six years.
 Tout le monde était surpris : Boucherie qui signe un groupe de reggae, c'était improbable ! 
Why so long?
I'm not quick in my productions. I like doing things properly and I really take my time. People hold it against me, they tell me I could do more. But music is a passion, when I want to put out a record, I want to work on it as much as possible. It takes time. In 2001 we released "Tolérance", and look, it's 2008, it took me seven years to make another one. I'm not fast, that's all.
You have lived in France for over 25 years but there are in the end very few lyrics in French.
My approach to music is that you feel it, it has no borders. Just because you don't understand the language doesn't mean you don't feel the music. We are cosmopolitan in the band and it's that exchange that interests me. On the latest album, there are more tracks in French than usual. On the next albums we will put more tracks in French, we are becoming aware of that. Shalom Salam, for example, was written in French, it seemed better to me for talking about Israel-Palestine.
Let's talk about it, precisely: you stress that they are the same peoples.
It's the same family, it's the descendants of Abraham. Isaac, Ishmael. It's a fratricidal war that makes no sense. It's not a question of religion, it's about people. At the outset all religions are good, all of them speak of a single God who is merciful, who speaks of tolerance, forgiveness, respect for others. But people don't follow those precepts. What distinguishes these religions is prayer, but otherwise they are identical. The problem doesn't come from the religions but from people. Some love power and when they have it, they dominate others. It's been that way since the world began. I hope that one day there will be an opening of minds, that they will see they have a common future. When you go there, you realise that Palestinians work in Israel, that the people are secular. I was in Jerusalem, I was stunned! The people are no different from us, the rest is just politics.
Akiboulane evokes the African diaspora, you say that one day all the children of Africa will "come back with their faith, their heart and their spirit"
I say that one day, the children of Africa will come back with knowledge, to change things. If Africa is to move, it is the Africans themselves who will make things change. There is a whole generation arriving, of students who finish their studies and come back to Africa to work there, which wasn't the case before. African governments have to realise that they are there for the people, not for their personal interest. Not to take Africa's money and put it in Switzerland. Every day kids drown trying to reach Europe.
Do you intend to go back and settle there?
I go there often, I'm setting up several projects with friends, to build schools, to bring a little help. My dream would be to live six months in France and six months in Senegal, to set up a studio and help young people. Art is important too. It's a way out for many people. Many people say that Africans come to take advantage of a system like this one, but that has nothing to do with it. Human beings seek only peace for their soul and spirit. When things aren't going well at home, you go elsewhere. It's been that way since the world began. Human beings have moved in order to survive. That's how Cro-Magnon moved all the way here, but people have forgotten. How was America built? And Australia? Today it's the African wave and tomorrow it will be another people.
On the album, you also cover Fisherman by the Congos. It's a nod to your name (the men of the sea in Wolof, Ed.).
We had a blast, everybody was happy in the studio. When I went to Jamaica, McAnuff introduced me to Cedric Myton. When Cedric heard me sing, he told me I had to sing Fisherman, and besides everybody called me Fisherman over there. And it's also the link between Africa and Jamaica.
Do you follow the Senegalese scene?
There really is an audience. The only pity is that television doesn't really promote the reggae or rap that are popular over there. Daara J, Didier Awadi, Dread Maxim… I hope they manage to build something, because there is talent over there. But there isn't the necessary support for it to break through internationally. We, the elders, that's what we have to do, help the young ones.
How did you react to Nicolas Sarkozy's speech in Dakar?
I was a bit sad. Whatever people say, Senegal is tied to France. If we speak French over there, it's thanks to the tirailleurs, we must remember that. How many died in 1914? How many in 1945? People gave their blood for freedom, because they believed in democracy. De Gaulle said to our elders: "Come and fight with me and you will have the same rights as we do". But that promise has been flouted. Don't think otherwise, people would rather be at home. You leave when you have no choice.
Tiken Jah Fakoly is now persona non grata in Senegal, after his remarks against the government.
It's sad. Afterwards, they talk to us about democracy. Democracy starts with freedom of expression. And besides, if you don't want to be criticised, you shouldn't be a leader. There will always be people to say they disagree, that's human. Moreover, what Tiken says is true. Many leaders in Africa, once in power, believe everything belongs to them. It's only in Africa that you see presidents for 30, 40 years. Where is the democracy? Many people have paid with their lives for speaking out. But denouncing that is the very role of the artist. Closing your eyes is not possible.
You arrived in France under Mitterrand. How have you seen it evolve?
France's problem is that it doesn't really manage to integrate its minorities. You don't choose: you are born somewhere. The descendants of Arabs, who are called Beurs, the Jews, the Africans who were born here are French. What Sarkozy forgets is that his ancestors come from Hungary. Yet the people had the spirit to elect him President of the Republic. The day France realises that its diversity is its wealth… As they managed to prove at the 1998 World Cup with the Zidanes and company, when everybody was celebrating. I love that France. Another example: who would have believed a black man could be President of the United States? If Martin Luther King were alive, he wouldn't believe his eyes. I believe in the goodness of the people. It's those at the top who remind us of our origins, who stigmatise them.
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