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Dakar has some of the best live music in the world today.1 Few cities in Africa have as wide an array of musical offerings. On any given night, it is possible to hear Senegalese rap, sabar drumming, jazz, lounge music, acoustic 'modern' folk music, m'balax, Mande music from Casamance,3 Cabo Verdean music, and, in a surprisingly large number of venues, Afro-Cuban music4 and salsa m'balax.5 While the widespread popularity of Afro-Cuban music in Senegal subsided in the 1980s, at the turn of the millennium it has been performed more frequently than its diminished public standing seems to warrant. Cassette/CD sales for Afro-Cuban music have dwindled and only rarely do the Senegalese media divert their gaze from m'balax stars like Youssou N'Dour or chanteuses like Coumba Gawlo to Afro-Cuban stalwarts like James Gadiaga of Super Cayor. Despite its lower profile, though, Afro-Cuban music continues to flourish in Dakar's many boîtes.
This article explores the cultural dynamics that have sustained the Afro-Cuban style as a significant variety of performed, if not recorded, music in Dakar, even as it has been overshadowed by newer musical genres appealing to younger segments of the listening public.6 I argue that Afro-Cuban music has been the 'anthem' of the generation that came to power during the Independence period of the 1960s. For this cohort, listening and dancing to Latin music embodies a 'modern' tropical sensibility and repertoire of behaviours they see as the bedrock of a viable post-colonial national culture. Keeping AfroCuban music alive in Senegal sustains this sensibility and perpetuates these behaviours, allowing this generation to exercise its power in the cultural and social domain and solidify its dominant political position. Its performance thus creates a space where generational rivalries and differing notions of cosmopolitanism can be 'played out' and negotiated under controlled conditions.7 Exploring where these performances take place illuminates the shifting relationship between sociability and authority in contemporary Senegal and the changing nature of the public sphere in the capital, Dakar.
PERFORMANCE SPACES FOR AFRO-CUBAN MUSIC
In conversation, the Dakar Latin musicians divide performance spaces into two hierarchies, one relating to cultural status, the other to profitability. From their perspective, playing in both types of spaces ensures a successful career, especially since they have to appeal to a...