Deggi Daaj International - Dakar, Senegal

Celebrated each summer, Deggi Daaj International is a gift back to Senegal and its drum and dance culture of Sabar. In response to the gradual marginalization by contemporary Dakar society of this precious and powerful cultural treasure, this festival aims to re-energize and promote the intangible cultural heritage of Sabar, and cultivate its evolution within modern Senegalese and international creative interests, through a tandem merging with the universal medium of a dynamic drumset orchestra, and through the synergy of transdisciplinary inclusion of international and Senegalese dancers and rappers.

At the foundation of Deggi Daaj, is the blessing and collaboration of our Artistic Director's adoptive Senegalese father Doudou Ndiaye Rose, the living legend godfather of Sabar drumming. Doudou is one of the most celebrated African musicians of the 20th century and has been formally named a Living Human Treasure by UNESCO. The opportunity for international and Senegalese young professional drumset, dance, and rap artists to intimately learn from and collaborate with Doudou is the synergy which is at the heart of Deggi Daaj International.

A project of Musicultural Diplomacy.

www.musiculturaldiplomacy.org