Senegalese musician, entrepreneur and statesman Youssou N’Dour loves nothing more than to quote his deceased compatriot, the caliph general Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Sy: ‘It’s good to resemble one’s father, but it’s better to resemble one’s era.’
The Senegalese singer is known for his extraordinary vocal range and for introducing international audiences to mbalax—a Senegalese popular music style that blends Wolof traditional instrumental and vocal forms primarily with Cuban and other Latin American popular genres.
According to Forbes, Youssou N'Dour is the richest African musician in the world in 2022, with a net worth of $145 million. His enormous net worth arose from the use of his distinct voice and the popularization of the well-known Senegalese style of music known as Mbalax. On October 1, 1959, he was born in Dakar, Senegal. He served as Senegal’s Minister of Tourism from April 2012 to September 2013. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine maintained that N’Dour is “perhaps the most famous singer alive” in Senegal and much of Africa.
"Africa has no cultural frontiers. It mixes genres effortlessly. That's the future for me." Youssou N'Dour
Show Guest: Youssou N'Dour
Show Host and Creator: Patrick A. Howell
Executive Producer and co-host: Tori Reid
Executive Producer: Amobe Mvegue
Executive Producer: Patrick Abanda
Show writer: Patrick A. Howell
Voice Over Artist: Maleiva
Production: WAN and Afrobiz
Pre-production: We Edit Productions
Post Productions: We Edit Productions
GDD Intro and Outro: Youssou N'Dour, Miss, Joko (2020)
Song, Introduction: Youssou N'Dour, Dem, Leaving, wommat (1994)
Song, Outro: Youssou N'Dour, Burima, Joko (2020)
Special thank you to: World African Network
photo of Youssou N'Dour: Youri Lenquette
Getting Deals Done is a show about doing business, changing power, changing systems and making the world a better place one deal at a time. Host, veteran banker and entrepreneur Patrick A. Howell, speaks with leading and successful innovators, mavericks and captains of industry about making big things happen in the world.
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