Alune Wade
Alune Wade was born in Dakar on June 9th, 1978. His father, a musician trained in Paris, was head of the Senegalese army symphony orchestra. At the age of seven, in keeping with his father's wishes, he took his first piano and music theory lessons at home. A few years of musical training later, he began to feel the itch to play drums, which his family immediately vetoed, followed by guitar.
In the end, however, the need for bass won out. Electric bass, double bass — the basic four-stringed instrument seemed to him a natural descendant of Africa. He received advice from Samba Laobé N'Diaye, Ismaël Lo's bassist at the time, who lent him his first bass. At the age of 18, Ismaël Lo offered him the chance to replace the bassist who had succeeded Samba in his group. The young musician stayed for eight years.
In addition to Ismaël Lo, he has played with Youssou N'Dour, Cheikh Tidiane Seck, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Zawinul, Aziz Sahmaoui, Fatoumata Diawara, Blick Bassy, Naïssam Jalal... In 2015 he recorded with his childhood idol, Marcus Miller, for his album Afrodeezia. He also released an album with Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa, on which he covers a number of African standards in Cuban versions.