Youssou N’Dour, in Monaco

These were taken 10 years ago today in Monaco. When Youssou N’Dour began to sing My Hope is in You on my radio this morning, I decided it was a clear sign that I needed to take some time today and finally give these images a permanent home here. My dear fellow N’Dour fans, you’re welcome. ????

That concert on November 22, 2009, at the Principality’s Salle des Etoiles on the Avenue Princesse Grace, was the first and only time I’ve had the pleasure to watch and listen to N’Dour, a Grammy-award winner and one of Africa’s most recognized artists, live. I hope it won’t the last.

Like Brazilian legend Gilberto Gil, another of my early ‘world music’ heroes, N’Dour opened my ears and eyes to an entirely new universe of sounds, West African rhythms which themselves were the pivotal roots to so much of the music the world has enjoyed as a consequence of the African diaspora. More than three decades have passed and I have yet to stop exploring music from that part of the world. Next on the agenda is to make an opportunity to physically explore some of the lands of Africa’s north- and central western coasts.

Eight more images are below.

Photos from 22 November 2009. Originally published on a former website that no longer exists and moved here on 22 November 2019. Photos reprocessed and uploaded on 22 November 2025.