Mansour Seck

Senegalese vocalist and guitarist Mansour Seck was best known in international circles for his close association with lifelong friend Baaba Maal. Since childhood, he had been Maal's confident, mentor, and almost a brother. Both were born in Podor, Senegal. Coming from a long line of traveling oral historians, Seck was destined from birth to become a griot. But he suffered from hereditary blindness, and so whenever he toured, Maal accompanied him. The two embarked upon their first tour in 1977. It took them throughout West Africa, where Seck learned even more of native histor...