We're together
Our connection with Senegal has been built up over time. It began with a meeting with an artist from Saint Louis – MAKE IT REAL – and then being invited to accompany the Dakar rap scene and create a unique concert at the Blaise Senghor Cultural Center in 2011… A unique experience, and then the power, all the beauty of Africa, which often makes you want to come back to create a BLUES’UP festival and play on the stages of the University of Dakar and Saint Louis in Senegal with Atef, Make it Real, Tee Two Mariani, Miguel Cloman, and Saf Sap…
The light comes from the children
During the concert at Saint Louis University, just before singing, Atef asked me, “Pierre, what are those balls we can see on the floor in front of the stage?” In the stress of the final adjustments, I hadn’t noticed—children, huddled in their T-shirts to keep warm in the light of our spotlights. These street children that you see everywhere—I had seen them on my first trip, and someone had explained to me their condition as Talibés, and that they were not unhappy—a kind of open-air orphanage… I had grown accustomed to their presence, I had accepted this harsh reality as the days passed in the different neighborhoods. It was Atef’s tears over these children on the ground that awakened all the repressed emotions I had held back in order to get through my day, my concert… What concert? A song was born from this experience, voices carried this message, from Valerie Simpson to Sister Coumbis, from Mano Camara to Marie Martin, not to mention Sitta, Valerie Ghent, Cesar, Ghostrider, Atef, and our brother and friend Make it Real… Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we are together!
Something From The Street - Light in Senegal
Film by Pasquale Nazzaro – Julien Baret & Johny Walker – To shine a light on the 200,000 street children we encounter in Senegal. Organization of concerts in front of the structures that do immense humanitarian work on a daily basis. Raising awareness so that we no longer accept what we see… Light in Senegal was born out of this commitment by independent artists from Dakar to New York.
Single
Light in Senegal
Pierre Sibille featuring Sister Coumbis, Mano Camara, Sitta et la participation exceptionnelle de Valerie Simpson (Ashford&Simpson) – Studio BLUES’UP
