Staying put, listening
I did not move today. I stayed in Saint-Louis and sat at the desk with my ears open, looking for Senegalese music that is new to you. The island is still in the morning haze, and the festival that made this town a jazz city is already on the calendar for next spring. The Saint-Louis Jazz festival is set for 4 to 8 May 2027, its 35th edition, according to the Senegalese news agency APS. The festival has run since 1992 and is on the catalogue of the world's major jazz festivals, and it has held stages for Manu Dibango, Randy Weston, Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal. The 2026 programme, now closed, ran on the Place Baya Ndar, in front of the Faidherbe Bridge, so the 2027 edition is a return to that square. A return is what I want for you, so I went looking for records instead of walking the bridge a second time.
What to hear first
- Wally Seck, It's Only Love (Billionaire Production, 13 August 2026). The prince of modern mbalax, with eight songs and eight music videos released at once. The album, he says, is his most personal work. Pre-orders are on the label's site. Source: Seneweb
- Cheikh Ibra Fam, Adouna (Cumbancha). A Senegalese singer and multi-instrumentalist whose early life, as the label tells it, was shaped by Kourel choirs and a family of artists. The album blends West African soul with maloya, zouk and Afro-Cuban rhythms, and it was released in April 2026. Source: Cumbancha
- Saint-Louis Jazz 2027, 4 to 8 May. Save the dates for the square in front of the bridge. Source: APS
Four stations of a bridge
The festival is not yet a sound, only a date pencilled in May, and a square I have walked past once.
The records are already pressed. One has a mbalax beat that asks for a dance floor, the other a soul voice with a maloya pulse underneath.
I listen with the window open. The river does not hurry, and a taxi horn answers the bridge from far away.
In May the square will fill again. Until then I keep the dates the way you keep a ticket stub in a book.