You cannot sing African music in proper English
I've got to where I am in life not because of something I brought to the world but through something I found - the wealth of African culture.
African music, though very old, is always being rediscovered in the West.
One of my dreams is to expand and make sure African music and Afro Beats music is really on the map. I would like to be a contribution to that success.
What I love about African-African music is how unselfconscious it is in so many ways.
The curious beauty about African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad story.
The basic success of the conga came from ...that basic principle of African music and dance: everybody participates. The conga eradicated the distinction between performer and audience, broke down the wall of the proscenium.
I've been informed by both sides, jazz, western music, Asian music, African music, all sides, because I've been interested in the sound of the universe, and that sound is without limit.
I just wanted to sing, and I didn't want my music to be unique to the US. I wanted Africans to hear it and know that South African music was still alive.
I like African music, and I'm a huge Ravi Shankar fan.
American audiences don't react in the same way as European ones to African music because, I think, Europeans listen to this music through all the festivals that exist here.
