Elage Diouf – Aksil (AUDIO)
In 1996 Élage Diouf left Senegal with his brother. Introduced to music and percussions at a very young age, the lyricist, composer and percussionist has participated in an array of musical projects alongside Quebecois musicians since his departure from Africa – notably Les Colocs and Ariane Moffatt. Elage has made name for himself in the world music scene given his capacity to integrate Senegalese musical traditions with local music trends. Resultant of his original approach to music, he was awarded a SOCAN award in 1999 in addition to co-writing the ‘song of the year’ Tassez-Vous de d’la’ alongside Les Colocs within which he can be heard singing in his native tongue, Wolof.
After several years spent traveling across Quebec and Canada, Élage and his brother formed a musical duo appropriately entitled ‘Diouf’. Together they released the album Dund, earning the brothers three nominations at the ADISQ Gala in 2004 in the ‘Album of the Year: World Music’, ‘Best New Group’ and ‘Group of the Year’ categories.
Soon after, the Diouf brothers toured the world with the Cirque du Soleil show Delirium, working as part of the musical creation team in addition to performing and singing in the show’s onstage band from 2006 to 2008. Élage still collaborates with Cirque du Soleil for varied special events.
After a seven-year gap from the world music scene, Élage Diouf presents his first solo album. Entitled Aksil, a Wolof word that translates to welcome and denotes openness, the album is principally composed of songs sung in Elage’s native tongue, Wolof. Accompanied by an impressive grouping of musically talented friends, counted among which are Jean Leloup, Mike Sawatski (Les Colocs), Jenny Salgado (Muzion), Anastasia Fiedman, Guy Kaye and Alain Berge, Aksil is unquestionably diverse, authentically world music in genre, and reflective of the artists’ international musical journey.
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