Defa sings, Mamy Victory raps, but they sometimes switch roles within Def Mama Def (defmaa maadef, in Wolof, means “karma”), the most exciting and refreshing musical proposal to come out of Senegal since African popular and dance music — Afrobeats, as they are called — took the charts and stages of the West by storm five or six years ago. In concert for the first time in Montreal on July 11 as part of the Festival international Nuits d’Afrique (FINA), the two musicians tell us about their long journey.
A musical dynamo in Africa since the 1970s, the Senegalese scene has produced stars such as Baaba Maal, Ismaël Lô, Youssou N’Dour (and the Étoile de Dakar orchestra, which propelled him to the forefront) and the Positive Black Soul collective, when hip-hop took root on the continent in the 1990s. However, the birthplace of the mbalax style has struggled to make itself heard in recent years in the concert of new African pop music dominated by Nigerian stars such as Burna Boy and Wizkid: “We made the same observation as you,” admits Mamy. At one point, we said to ourselves: “But what is the new generation of Senegalese artists doing that we don’t see on an international scale?” Positive Black Soul has represented us everywhere. But where are the young people? “We had to find a happy medium between our musical tradition and current trends to be able to tell a new story of Senegalese music. Let’s follow in the footsteps of the giants who came before us, we will become a new showcase of our culture.”
This vision could finally impose Senegal in the afrobeats conversation. Def Mama Def is still putting the finishing touches to his first album, expected at the beginning of 2025 at the latest, and if it is like the microalbum Oh Malikoreleased in May 2023, it’s going to be a hit.
A new sound
“One of Def Mama Def’s goals is to present a new Senegalese sound,” explains Mamy Victory, who already has a good ten-year career as an MC. “We based ourselves on the sounds and rhythms of Doudou N’diaye Rose’s drums [1930-2015]a great man who represented Senegal all over the world” thanks to his mastery of traditional percussion – and who, for the record, participated in the recording of the live album Wheat and millet (1974) by the Quebec collective Toubabou, led by the late percussionist Michel Séguin.
“We said to ourselves: ‘Why not bring back this lost musical tradition with the young generation of Senegalese musicians, who have lost their musical bearings a little?’ In Wolof, we have this expression which says: ‘No need to look far for what we already have under our feet.’ We are proposing a new Senegalese sound, based on our intangible heritage,” Doudou N’diaye Rose having been consecrated “Living Human Treasure” by UNESCO in 2006.
“Actually, it’s a bit ironic, but the music we listen to the most is from the 1960s and 1970s,” continues Defa, formerly a member of the group Rafa, which performed in 2019 at Balattou, at the invitation of FINA. “We draw inspiration from all the greats, you know why? Because our culture is rich, and we want to show it to the whole world. All the regions of Senegal have their sound, their musical particularities.”
Def Mama Def’s is to render so naturally this fusion between Senegalese percussive traditions and contemporary pop trends. On the song Kalanakh (from the microalbum Oh Maliko), Defa’s clear vocals in the introduction announce a rhythmic snarl vaguely reminiscent of the South African electronic kwaito/township funk sound that emerged about fifteen years ago, while the softer Jigeenshe, winks at the house grooves of amapiano, a genre also South African.
And in this beautiful story that began three years ago for the two musicians, this detail, far from being insignificant: the present and future of Senegalese pop are expressed through women. “Senegalese pop 2.0 is us,” says Defa with a laugh. “We are first inspired by women, and if I say that, it’s because before being able to make the music we’re making right now, we were raised by our mothers who really supported us, who let us make our choices. They are our heroines, it’s thanks to them that we can enjoy our freedom, because it’s not always easy to grow up in Muslim families and to really be who you are. And on our album, the song Jigeen is one of those compositions that pay homage to women.”
” Jigeen means “woman” in Wolof, Mamy Victory explains. And the melody of this song was inspired by that of a song by Youssou N’Dour dedicated to children. So, you see the fusion between the mother and the child, between our sound and that of Youssou N’Dour, all that to pay tribute to all the mothers in the world. It’s this kind of connection that makes the personality of Def Mama Def.”