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Renowned Senegalese drummer Doudou Ndiaye Rose
has died at the age of 85. Photo: AFP
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Renowned
Senegalese drummer Doudou Ndiaye Rose has died aged 85, his family has announced.
Famous for playing the sabar
drum, he toured the world and played with jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie
and Miles Davis, and the Rolling Stones. He led an orchestra of more than 30
drummers, many of them his children and grandchildren. The UN cultural agency
declared him a "living human treasure" in 2006 for keeping alive
traditional rhythms.
Rose continued to play up until his death and a
few years ago explained how happy he was to have spawned a dynasty of
percussionists.
BBC report continues:
"I thank the good lord. My children have
learned the language of percussion well," he told the AFP news agency in
2010.
"I can even no longer play and just listen
to them."
'Drumming
symphonies'
Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi, 36, said Rose
was at ease playing with both modern acts and traditional groups.
He was a genius, who was able to turn the sound
of many drums into a symphony, he told the BBC's Newsday programme.
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Rose was working as a plumber before he took up
drumming seriously, AFP says
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"He can organize more than 100 drums and
make the sound smooth."
The rapper said every piece that Rose played
had a message: "He knew the language of the drum, because the drum was our
first cell phone to communicate."
According to AFP, Rose was born into a griot
family of musicians and story-tellers, but his accountant father did not want
him to continue in the tradition.
When the young man defied him, they went for
seven years without shaking hands, it reports.
Awadi said it was difficult
to choose one track to sum up his mentor: "It is like Mozart or a great
master, every piece is a 'chef d'oeuvre' (masterpiece)."
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