Laba Sosseh succumbs to death
African Music suffered a big blow last week Thursday when death laid its icy hands on a Gambian-born Music star Laba Sosseh.
Laba succumbed to death at 3:00am in a private clinic in Dakar.
The sad news was announced over RTS, the Senegalese state-owned media, by two musicians Cheikh Tidiane Tall and Salsero Pape Fall, close friends of the deceased.
Laba Sosseh was an undisputed master of Salsa in Senegal. Influenced by the Cuban music of the 50’s, Laba Sosseh formed the Star Band du Dakar in the sixties, which became very popular in the late sixties and in which artists such as Papa Seck and Youssou N’Dour have been singing.
Born in The Gambia on March 12, 1943, Laba Sosseh was half Senegalese, half Gambian. Laba’s father was from Senegal and his mother is Gambian. Although he is frequently categorized as Senegalese, Laba grew up in Banjul (The Gambia), listening to Cuban music and Johnny Pacheco, who was one of his stars.
Laba moved to Senegal in the 1960s and in 1962 he and Nigerian sax player Dexter Johnson, formed pioneering salsa band Star Band de Dakar. He also worked with Special Liwanza Band, which recorded for producer Aboudou Lassissi’s Sacodis label.
He was the first Senegambian musician to win an international musician award.
Read more about Laba Sosseh @ Calabash Music >>
One Response to “Laba Sosseh succumbs to death”
By Therese on Oct 1, 2007 | Reply
I found a free song by Laba Sossah here at Calabash Music.