Senegal needs a renaissance.

My father used to tell me about how musicians don't have respect from people and he was afraid about my future.

When the slaves left Africa, they left us this music. They left us blues.

The question of modernization is central to disturbances in the Middle East and in Africa. Everyone is after modernization, no matter where they come from. But you have to be careful about it, and more importantly, you have to have sense about it.

Western record companies haven't always dealt with African musicians in the best way. Giving them a lot of money and telling them they're going to be bigger than Phil Collins is the wrong way to do it!

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 have to protect my family and have a life with them that is completely private.