established 01/04/00 Sustaining the principles of love in action : ubuntu /sharing PORTFOLIO OF CULTURAL JOURNALISM : the doors of culture and learning shall be opened struhuru@gmail.com

A change of ideas and styles is a way to be together, everybody world wide should know the music is universal," says Coumba Gowlo in her silky smooth French. "I really love Miriam Makeba, she's a huge example fur us African artists. I am fond of what she is doing and I think we should follow big stars - try to find a way to make a contribution for the world to know about Africa, and what women are capable of doing. And as a result I feel that I am close to South Africa."

It was late on a warm Dakar afternoon and I was meeting Coumba at her nightclub The Jpessie Night just near the market place. I didn't have the stomach for the speed of the market place, so I decided to circumnavigate it with one of the variety of little black and yellow taxis available - so I jumped into the first one that passed my way and issued my commands in my forced French pronunciation, but misunderstandings are bound to happen and I ended at a dirty downtown pub - no place for a star like Coumba.

I immediately attired myself in a suitable accent, the taxi over-heated, I befriended the driver in the ensuing repairs, paid him with one of those dirty notes and arrived at the appropriate club in a sweat, only to be greeted by a very glamorous lady seated behind a desk with the calming poise of a 50's pop-star. But, what is more, a sincere ambition for upliftment and equality through music, and a desire to seriously participate in this movement to improve her country, her people and her continent - creating a striking similarities with her idol, Mama Africa, who in her autobiography wrote 'My life, my career, every song I sing and every appearance I make are bound up with my people.'

"We are all concerned about what is going through the earth," says Coumba. "As an artist I consider myself an ambassador which means that in everything I do I mention what is going on in Africa. I am African and I see everyday what is going on around me. It concerns me and it should concern everybody. The more people who are concerned and the more people who have knowledge about it, then it will be easier to find a solution and do something about it."

With regular gigs between West Africa and West Europe, and a couple of well received albums she is certainly spreading the word, but with her night-club and her business initiative - Dakar Rendez Vous Music - she's now getting involved in making that change.

"We have a huge huge huge, a phenomenal," she passionately exclaimed, when I asked her about what was happening on the street level. "The youth here have great great talent, but they don't have the opportunity to do anything. I come from a modest family so if I relate it to my past what I had, what I wish I had - it helps me to face the reality and fight - and that's why I am fighting today for the young people, they are simply our future. If they don't have education, if they don't have a chance to grow into a good condition and become somebody - the future in Africa will be no better than today. I give them the chance to perform in the night-club. We also have a label Sabar for us to help them to do something and be known world wide. And why not? It is a matter of ambition. You can not just sing and that is it. In Africa we need help, we need promotion in terms of music, so, its a way for me to help our country and our continent go further."

This attitude embodies a remarkable aspect of Senegal - the burning hope that the young people possess and the driving ambition of those in powerful positions - because you have to fight for your success in Senegal, no matter what your background, rural or urban. And Coumba was no exception, her childhood means were as modest as any in the dismal and dusty suburbs of Dakar, but they were flowing with an incredible sense of music and tradition.

"I was born into a griot family and an ambience of song. My father was a songwriter and my mother a singer - so I learnt the traditional culture and bhistory. And that is very important," she says. "From the day you are born to the day you die you know where you are coming from and that everything you are going to do will be with your culture. As an artist you must mention origin for people world-wide to gain that knowledge to know where you are coming from and to understand who is who."

The griot is blessed with the community obligations of holding the microphone at welcoming gatherings or in passing information, oral history and singing the mbalax music to summons the spiritual world in the traditional ceremonies like of healing, marriage or circumcision. However in the more modern society that Dakar embodies, the importance of being a griot has been usurped by the importance of being a musician. Coumba Gowlo may be from a griot family but must of the top musicians are not, yet all the musicians together maintain that essential function in society in passing messages, restoring pride and giving hope. 'The griot is still here," says Coumba "the tradition is still here but they are just growing like the world is growing. We are all griots, we are sending messages and we do whatever we can do to keep people positive about what is going on - aids, children and third world."