Youssou N'Dour has been named among the world's 50 Great Voices according to NPR, a diverse list that also includes Björk, Asha Bhosle, Billie Holiday, Maria Callas, Robert Plant, and dozens of others—"awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time." On NPR's All Things Considered, contributor Banning Eyre says that throughout his long and varied career, "N'Dour has remained on top, without question Senegal's most beloved singer."
Youssou N'Dour has been named among the world's 50 Great Voices according to NPR, a diverse list that also includes Björk, Asha Bhosle, Billie Holiday, Maria Callas, Robert Plant, and dozens of others—"awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time." N'Dour's was the last of the artists to be revealed in 2010, last week on NPR's All Things Considered.
"Rolling Stone called him the most famous African singer alive. The U.K. magazine Folk Roots dubbed him African Artist of the 20th Century," recounts host Robert Siegel. "He's a musical chameleon capable of a seductive whisper or a siren's cry."
NPR contributor Banning Eyre tracks N'Dour back to his earliest performances with his band Etoile de Dakar and the creation of mbalax, a new type of music that "would allow N'Dour's voice to soar with a whole new freedom," and over his long and varied career, through all of which "N'Dour has remained on top, without question Senegal's most beloved singer."
You can listen to the complete piece, which includes excerpts from N'Dour's Grammy-winning Nonesuch album Egypt, at npr.org.
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