I want to use my music to deliver a political message and sometimes to denounce, but I don't want to be a politician.

I think people should know more of Africa in terms of its joie de vivre, its feeling for life. In spite of the images that one knows about Africa - the economic poverty, the corruption - there's a joy to living and a happiness in community, living together, in community life, which may be missing here in America.

Music in Africa often contains messages. Music in Senegal, and Africa, is never music for music's sake or solely for entertainment. It's always a vehicle for social connections, discussions and ideas.

Politics is politics; art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

In the West, you have always associated the Islamic faith 100 percent with Arab culture. This in itself is a fundamentalist attitude and it is mistaken.

I'm a modern Muslim. I pray, and if I have a question, I ask someone who is more educated in the religion than me.

Listen, a lot of religions have fundamentalists.