The Best American Travel Writing 2021 by Padma Lakshmi

Author:Padma Lakshmi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358361848
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Woman Power

Late one afternoon at the oceanfront Terrou-Bi hotel, I met up with a popular all-woman trio called Safary, which formed in Dakar in 2007. Back then, the group’s three young members were defying convention, said singer Khadija Bayo. “Traditionally, girls in Africa are expected go to school, if they’re lucky, and then find a husband and make a family,” she said. “Now things are changing a little.” The group performs Afrobeat—a percussive blend of rap, hip-hop, Cuban son, and other influences—and sings about relationships, societal expectations, and challenges of modern life. They also take pains to celebrate African culture, which they say gets short shrift in much of the international media in Senegal. Because of what they see on the internet and TV, for example, Senegalese women think they should look like Kim Kardashian, Bayo said. “Every woman wants to look like her.”

“Really?” I said. “Even here?”

“Of course,” she said, grinning.

I shook my head. “I’m so sorry.”

Bayo and her fellow bandmates laughed. “Our idea of beauty is to keep our African values,” she said. “We don’t need to buy Versace to look beautiful. Even tonight, we’re all wearing clothes made here in Senegal.” And, in fact, the group was working on its first album devoted to traditional mbalax music.

I wanted to meet other artists fusing musical genres and soon found myself trading WhatsApp texts with Amadou Barry, a rap star better known as Duggy Tee, who replied to my first message with “Welcome home.”

Duggy Tee picked me up in an SUV and drove me to a dusty street corner in Dakar’s Sacre Coeur neighborhood, where he often hangs out under shady trees with friends. There, he told me about his childhood in Paris and Dakar. His father was a flight attendant for the now-defunct Air Afrique, he said, and as a kid, he spent countless hours listening to his dad’s records. He loved Pink Floyd’s The Wall and often studied the lyrics on the album jacket. “That,” he said, “was one of my first English lessons.”

As we talked on, a horse clopped past pulling a buggy, and Duggy Tee described taking up break dancing in his early teens after seeing American dance movies. Later, he started rapping, and, with a former rival turned friend, he established the group Positive Black Soul. At first, some Senegalese accused the pair of imitating American music. “We said, ‘No, you’re fooling yourselves,’” he recalled. “‘Rap is rooted in ancient African traditions.’” The group sang about social issues and celebrated African pride, and they spent years touring the world. Duggy Tee said he was working on a solo album, but he also wanted to produce TV shows for Senegalese children. He thought kids in the country watched too many shows produced in the US and France. “Why don’t we make something like The Simpsons here?” he said.

Soon it was time for lunch, and he invited me to join him and several friends. We ate rice and fish in the traditional Senegalese style, out of a large communal bowl.

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