Doudou Ndiaye Rose’s final collaborator

This is what touched me the most about Doudou Ndiaye Coumba Rose. I had a personal rule in every rendezvous with Papi, after exchanging greetings, that I would not begin the waaxtaan before him, even if there was important Deggi Daaj work to discuss. What I discovered gradually over time, by letting him break the silence each time, was his passion for giving. Consistently, he would begin by speaking about who or what he was praying for that morning, and how many times exactly (on more than one occasion, he informed my wife and I that he was praying for us to have twins). At the beginning of Ramadan this past June, Papi was enthusiastically launching a food donation mission, in-person with his own vehicle, for those in need. His character of generosity, resonating with the meaning of my given name, was helping me to grow and know myself better... He made me a better person.

Every single encounter with Papi was a subtle learning opportunity, whether around the drumset circle or the family ceebujen bowl. I left every rendezvous with him feeling inspired, energized, and blessed. This is the one reason Deggi Daaj International Festival of Drumsets and Dance in Dakar could exist, could go from being a vision to a reality. Looking back at our 85th birthday festival for Doudou, and the three editions before that, it all seems like a kind of miracle. No structure exists for such a concept artistically, we've never found steady management, I've never had a CFA in my pocket from this lifework of almost six years... Our only currency was the most precious & invaluable: the blessings and prayers of Papi. It was the foundation of everything.

A couple weeks after our 2nd edition in 2013, I got married in the HLM5 mairie office. Doudou offered to take the place of my father. He gave a speech in the ceremony, for about 15 minutes, blowing me away... He knew my heart 100%... This is when I first felt in my life the unconditional love of a father... From this moment my heart became safe to open completely to Doudou, beyond an artistic relationship.

I first met him on 30 April 2009, backstage at Stade Iba Mar Diop, concert of Xalam. With chef d'orchestre being my calling since age 17, but with a classical western background which I had grown bored with, discovering Doudou Ndiaye Rose was no less than a completely essential & previously-unimaginable dimension for me artistically... A gift from God.

We collaborated together for four years, as double wild chefs d'orchestre with our double orchestras of Sabar and drumsets. The expressions on Doudou's face on stage confirmed for me that the unique joy was indeed mutual, machallah... A synergy which surprised us both, & grew more intimate each year.

In the final show of Deggi Daaj International 2015 and ultimately of Doudou as well, on 1 August 2015 at the Jardin of the Hotel de Ville, it was somehow precious that Papi did one thing which he had never done before, and he did it three times. He took my hands and danced with me, simply and graciously, childlike. In retrospect, in mystic terms, it was his gratitude & goodbye dance. Also in that show, in the climactic minutes, I had a soul-beguee impulse to run the big circle within the perimeter of audience (it was a Tanebeer formation)... During the second revolution, I noticed that 180 degrees across the circle, Papi was joining me, running as well... I turned my head to him directly for a moment... That was the last shared smile of surprise synergy which we shared.

I don't have the habit to remember my dreams. In the first hours of 19 Aug 2015, in the final phase of my night's sleep, I had a vivid dream, a dream of that circle running scene... But three things were different: 1) It was a still-frame, frozen in time, of the moment I looked across the circle and caught Papi smiling at me. 2) The distance across the circle was now astral, other dimensional. 3) Papi's smile and contentment was radiant, pure light... Shining his peace at me from a heavenly distance...

It was a few hours later, when my phone began ringing with calls from brothers in Senegal, that I understood Papi was smiling to me from the other side of the circle of life. In divine eternal peace... ci loxo Yalla... Alhamdoulilah.

Before traveling after Deggi Daaj International each year, my wife and I have the habit to visit Papi, listen to his reflection artistically on the shows, tagu, and pray together. Our last waaxtaan was on 4 August... It excited me to my soul when Papi shared that he had a new rhythm being composed in his head, which was a creation for Deggi Daaj & the family Sabar orchestra. We planned to start birthing it on his repetition terrace in HLM1 upon my return in November. I only regret not asking him to sing it a bit, this final creative chapter of his epic body of rhythm science.

Ultimately, with his yin-yang balance of humility & shamanic force-of-nature artistry, Doudou enlightened my vision of humanity.

Luckiness > sadness > deepest gratitude...

I still can't imagine this world without the influence and grace of Doudou Ndiaye Coumba Rose... I still cry... But my heart's memory of those intimate angelic smiles on stage is guidance, that I must cultivate the synergy in new ways yet unconceived, to now live my artistic life as a celebration of all the xam-xam, trust, and blessings he so generously shared with me. And humbly try to make the world a little better place for others in doing so.

Mangi jalé Thiouna Ndiaye Rose.

I'm excited by the possibilities and synergies among the many dear Ndiaye Rose brothers and sisters in the family. It's been a profoundly real and touching 13 days of sharing deep waaxtaans, tears and beguee with new brothers who live abroad and flew back to Dakar immediately, as I did. My Facebook inbox has exploded with messages of gratitude from second and third generation Ndiaye Roses scattered all around the globe, some calling me Nathan Ndiaye Rose, machallah... I hope some of the drummers consider settling in DK, and remain freethinking voices in the new creative dialogue of exponential possibilities at hand, in support of wherever papa Thiouna feels to take the music... Perhaps it's a whole new beginning, with every tege as a nyan, everblessing Doudou's divine smile and making him a supremely proud papa in paradise.