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One of the quiet innovators behind the scenes of African music, Idrissa Diop has played a role, sometimes directly but usually indirectly, in much of contemporary Senegalese music. Before Dakar had become a hotbed of activity on the world market, Diop was playing the local music circuits as a percussionist with a number of small bands, usually providing the bulk of the arrangements and infusing the traditional music with touches of jazz, funk, and Afro-beat (<a href="spotify:artist:5CG9X521RDFWCuAhlo6QoR">Fela</a> was a personal hero of sorts for Diop, and later became a major target for help from his political side of work). While performing some of this relatively new music, Diop was spotted by the up-and-coming <a href="spotify:artist:77zlytAFjPFjUKda8TNIDY">Youssou N'Dour</a>; <a href="spotify:artist:77zlytAFjPFjUKda8TNIDY">N'Dour</a> became the catalyst for Diop's rise to the world scene, commissioning a number of songs. Moving to France as one of many Senegalese musicians making the move to a larger market, he formed the African jazz-rock fusion group <a href="spotify:artist:40sdgj5EVgaQEFFp1PPeFa">Sixun</a>, which became a critical success with a few albums, eventually landing a major-label contract for Lunatic Taxi. Side projects with <a href="spotify:artist:3yR1Wkz3vg6ZjoDcAHPPCv">Ralph Thamar</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3oB3hVEizagt6r6W7HEcbD">Ray Lema</a>, among others, kept momentum going for Diop after <a href="spotify:artist:40sdgj5EVgaQEFFp1PPeFa">Sixun</a>'s eventual end, with a performance in the BBC's millennium broadcast opening the door for a solo album, Yakar, by 2003. Work on Yakar also led to an ongoing collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:7yGQgQiiKpg2k00JXf8hJk">Carlos Santana</a> as songwriter and occasional opening act. ~ Adam Greenberg, Rovi
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