Abdou Mboup was born in the small town of Kebemer, Senegal to a family of oral historians and musicians. Having studied traditional percussion under the tutelage of his family, Abdou soon became a key figure in the development of the Mbalax style (Senegalese dance music). In the early 1970’s he was the first musician to incorporate various traditional instruments into Senegalese popular music. A few years later, he joined the renewed Dakar-based group Xalam, with which he toured Europe and Africa under the patronage of South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. By the 1980’s, Abdou was living and working in Paris, where he attracted the attention of the American trumpeter Jon Hassell, with whom he recorded and performed at the 1982 Womad festival in the UK. Soon thereafter, he became the percussionist of Eddy Louiss’s band with whom he toured and recorded for the next ten years. Since then, Abdou’s career has only expanded. He has toured and recorded in Africa, Europe, America, Southeastern Asia, Japan, Nepal and India. From the 1990’s until now, Abdou has written original compositions for Jean Luc Ponty, Pharaoh Sanders,Tom Tom Club and Randy Weston. As a player, he has collaborated with Nina Simone, Joe Zawinul Syndicate , Kenny Barron, Harry Belafonte, Michel Petrucciani, Ron Carter, Joe Chambers, Steve Turre, Jon Faddis, Billy Higgins, Bill Laswell, Jason Moran, Regina Carter, Wycliffe Gordon, Ronny Jordan, George Cables,Toots Thielmans, Jon Lurie, Chico Freeman, Craig Harris, and Manu Dibango. Today he performs solo on the kora, xalam, percussion and voice.

This event will stream on the Jazz Foundation and Jazz Museum Facebook pages and the Museum YouTube Channel.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the Howard Gilman Foundation.