Moussa Ngom

Musa Ngum was a singer and songwriter who was very popular in Senegal and Gambia. He was one of the pioneers of mbalax music, and "helped to define the mbalax style of popular music in the Senegambia" and "had a strong influence on Youssou N'Dour and other mbalax pioneers". He was "something of a cult icon back in the Senegambia region, and a pioneer of the mbalax fusion style". The mbalax, which originated from the Serer religious and ultra–conservative njuup music tradition sang during Ndut rites by circumcised boys was the foundation of Ngum's music career. He mastered many of the njuup classics and built a name for himself while at the same time developing his voice. One of the reasons Youssou N'Dour considered him to be a major inspiration was because of his lyrics in "noble" Wolof as opposed to "street" Wolof. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_Ngum) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)