Publisher's Synopsis
[Please note: This book is published in French language text.] Wala Bok: An Oral History of Hip Hop in Senegal explores and reflects on the evolution of generations of hip hop artistes and practitioners, from the early pioneers to the new kids on the block, producers, and the social critics involved in this complex movement. In Senegal, hip hop has been very political from the go, from 'Set Setal' cleanliness campaigns of the 80s and 90s, to the Y'en a marre movement that became instrumental to derailing the monarchic wishes of an octogenarian president to usher in a second 'alternance' in 2012. The images and testimonies of this movement, shaped by the recognition for cultural diversity and motivated by the quest for making the world a better place, unveil a heterogeneous eclectic community pulled between individual artistic promotion and political commitment. Includes photographs and contributions from scholars such as Greg Thomas, Eugene Adams, Ousmane Sene, Abdoulaye Niang and many hip hop artistes and practitioners in Senegal including Daara J Family, Didier Awadi, Fou Malade, Keur Gui, Daddy Bibson, Lord Alajiman, Chronik 2H, ALIF, Moona, Rapattack and many others. Kande Senghor studied cinema, civilizations and languages at the Universite Charles de Gaulle in Lille, France. She worked with the director Wim Wenders on The Invisible (2007), a documentary on women raped by the May May fighters during the civil war in Congo. She was a privileged collaborator of Sembene Ousmane. In 2006, she presented photographic works in the exhibition Snap Judgements at the invitation of Okwui Enwezor at the New York Contemporary Photography Museum. The documentary The Other in Me (2012) explores the threads in connection, identity, belonging and the Diaspora between two identical twin brothers. In 2015, her documentary film Giving Birth on the enigmatic Senegalese sculptor Seni Camara was an official selection at the Venice Biennale.
