The Senegalese guitarist and singer Mansour Seck, who has died after a short illness, aged 69, recorded solo albums but was best known for the crucial role he played in the career of the African star Baaba Maal, his longtime friend. Unlike Maal, Seck was a griot, a hereditary musician responsible for keeping alive the music and stories of his people, and he transformed Baaba’s style by teaching him griot songs. Together they recorded Djam Leelii, the 1989 album that launched Maal’s career, and Seck later became a key member of Maal’s band, Daande Lenol, with whom he toured the world.
“I didn’t have the right to use the music of the griots,” said Maal, “but since me and Mansour were like twins or two brothers, the griots allowed me to touch some of this music, Yela music … Without Mansour I would never have been called the King of Yela. He opened the door for me and I opened the door for him to travel.”
The album that changed their lives was recorded in Paris in 1984. Maal had been studying at the Conservatoire, and used the money he earned from local performances to pay for Seck to join him. Djam Leelii was not intended for western audiences but for sale on cassette back in West Africa, and the distinctive blend of stately, interlocking acoustic guitars and rousing vocals (in halpulaar, the language of the Fulani of northern Senegal) brought them a following among Fulani groups and others across the region.
The cassette became a cult success in Britain almost by accident. Lucy Durán, the music academic, heard it while in the Gambia and brought it to the attention of that adventurous broadcaster Charlie Gillett, who played it on Capital Radio. John Peel then played it on Radio 1. Another copy went to Ian A Anderson, the music journalist, who “became completely obsessed” with the cassette and decided to release it as an album and CD through his own record label, Rogue.
A concert by Maal and Seck at the Hackney Empire in London in November 1988 was filmed by the BBC and broadcast early the following year, soon after the album had been released, winning praise from both the national and music press.
Djam Leelii had been credited to both Maal and Seck, but by the time of the British follow-up, Baayo (1991), Maal was a soloist signed to Chris Blackwell’s Mango label. Another powerful acoustic set, it again featured Seck on guitar and vocals. When Maal began to experiment in mixing African with western amplified styles, Seck recorded a series of solo albums on the Sterns Africa label. N’der Fouta Tooro Vol 1 (1994) was an acoustic set with vocals shared between Seck and the Mauritanian griot Ousmane Hamady Diop, with one song from Maal, and was played by Peel. Seck followed up with Vol 2 (1995) and Yelayo (1997).
When Maal returned to his African acoustic roots with the classic album Missing You (2001), Seck was again playing guitar, and co-wrote one track. The album’s producer, John Leckie, famed for his work with Radiohead, remembers Seck’s “gentleness and humour … he was a joy to be around. He’d often have a guitar in the control room and would be playing continuously until I asked him to stop.”
From then on, Seck became more prominent in Maal’s concerts rather than recordings, often providing an acoustic passage during a show. His last UK performance with Maal was at the London Barbican in 2023, and his final appearance was in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, three months before his death. “It was one of the greatest concerts we ever played,” said Maal.
Seck was born in the village of Guedé, in northern Senegal, in 1955, according to official records (though Maal insists that Seck was born in 1951 and that he was “two years older than me, and so the date shown in his passport is incorrect”). He was the son of Bocar Seck, a griot musician, and his wife, Dadelle Thiam, who died when Mansour was six months old. Mansour moved to Podor, a little town on the Senegal river, to be brought up in the household of Mansour Sy, a close friend of his father, after whom he had been named. Sy was a local administrator and ensured that Mansour attended Podor high school.
Learning the music of the griots, he was influenced by his grandmother Djeymade, a celebrated singer – but decided to break from tradition by learning the guitar, not a griot instrument. He first met Maal – already known locally as a fine singer – in his mid-teens, and they became close friends and began making music together. Seck had sight problems from an early age, and became completely blind in his late teens, and Maal would act as his “eyes”.
After leaving school, Seck moved to Dakar to join the traditional group Asla Fouta, which Maal joined later after deciding to quit his law studies. Then, along with a couple of friends, Seck and Maal set off on an extensive field trip to study local musical styles, travelling across Senegal into Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, “staying with griot families and friends”. Maal, and soon afterwards Seck, then moved to Paris to begin their international careers.
Seck is survived by his wife, Ramata Samb, and their five children, Gamby, Dadel Yaya, El Hadj Baba Mall, Thioyo and Oumoul Khayi.
• Mansour Seck, musician, born 12 May 1955; died 29 May 2024
