He retained ace keyboard player and arranger Papis Ndiaye, brought in Jimi Mbaye, former lead guitarist with Youssou N’Dour, and recruited some youthful sabar drummers. Meantime Wally Seck recorded his latest album with his father’s group. He insisted he was duped by Gambian tour promoters but spent eight months in Dakar’s Cap Manuel prison before being released on bail. Then in 2015, Thione Seck was accused of money laundering when counterfeit bank notes were found at his home. Weekly appearances by Wally Seck at chic Dakar clubs like Vogue and Alchimea on the city’s so-called millionaire’s mile, along with shows at venues like the Monument de la Renaissance, the King Fahd Palace Hotel and the Grand Theatre, created a growing sense of excitement and adulation around the rising superstar. Wally Seck fan clubs, like the original Wally Family founded in 2008, spawned Wallyettes and Xaley Wallys (child fans) and even Badiane Wallys (for older women). A friendly rivalry developed between father and son at first Thione Seck’s fans booed Wally when he appeared on stage but then the tables began to turn and audiences were demanding Wally rather than Thione. In 2006 he returned to Senegal to sing alongside his father and the well-established backing group, Raam Daan, in the Penc Mi nightclub. It was in London, at Club 19 in Forest Gate, that he made his first-ever singing appearance and soon realized he could no longer deny his true calling. He has already performed in New York’s Times Square, filled Le Zénith arena in Paris and he is billed to appear in the city’s 22,000-seat Bercy stadium, recently renamed the Accor Hotels Arena, on June 4.īorn in Dakar, the young Wally Seck made an early decision to move out of the family home and find his own way: “Being the son of a well-known personality is never easy, so in my teens I decided to leave and fend for myself.” Inspired by French football wizard Zinedine (Zizou) Zidane, he pursued an early dream of fame on the field by training in Italy and then in England. Music chose me rather than the other way round and so whatever I decide to do I will succeed.” The stated aim of this charismatic, confident and arrantly ambitious young man is to take Senegalese music to places it has never been before. Wally Seck insists, “You can play music if the music likes you. His father, Thione Seck, possesses one of the great soul voices of modern Senegalese music while his great-grandfather sang religious praise songs ( khassayids) for his spiritual guide, the peace-loving mystic Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the country’s Mouride Islamic brotherhood. Born in Dakar into a family of hereditary praise singers and musicians, Wally Seck at first shunned the tradition but now appreciates the power of his natural gifts. Hailed as Senegal’s new Prince Charming, 30-year-old Wally Ballago Seck has landed like a meteor in the firmament of Senegalese superstars that includes Youssou N’Dour, Baaba Maal, Cheikh Lo, Orchestra Baobab, Coumba Gawlo Seck and the rap groups Daara J and Positive Black Soul.
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