Omar Pene (born 28 December 1955) is a Senegalese vocalist and composer, who is the lead singer of Super Diamono, and is now a solo artist.

Career

Omar Pene was born in the working-class neighborhood of Derkle in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

into a wolof family. Having been singing his whole life and playing in other bands, he formed Super Diamono in 1975–76, with previous bandmates Cheikh Diagne, Bassirou Diagne, and Bazlo Diagne, along with members of Tropical Jazz De Dakar, including singer Ismael Lo. Other members of the band included Bob Sene, Aziz Seck, Lapa Diagne, Abdou Mbacke and Adama Faye, a jazz keyboardist who gave the group a harder electric sound. In

, during the 1980s, Super Diamono were one of the few bands who could compete with Youssou Ndour in

, and the two singers had a lively artistic competition, both with devoted fanbases. Fans of Pene and Super Diamono used to congregate particularly at the Balafon Club, near the Autonomous Port of Dakar. Super Diamono's music was energetic reggae and jazz influenced dance music rooted in Senegalese

mbalax Mbalax (or mbalakh) is the urban dance music of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia. The musical style is rooted in the indigenous instrumental and vocal styles accompanied by polyrhythmic sabar drumming of the Wolof, a social identity that incl ...

rhythms, which are frenetic and syncopated. Their songs cover socially conscious topics such as unemployment and education, and they were described by ''Rough Guide: World Music'' as "the people's band of Dakar's proletarian suburbs". In the mid-1980s, Ismael Lo left to follow a solo career and was replaced by Mamadou Marga. By 1991, most of the group's original members had left for other projects, and Pene continued the band with session musicians, touring Europe and North America four years later. To date, he has released more than thirty albums and cassettes. Under their new name ''Super Diamono de Dakar'' , the band released their first album '' Géédy Dayaan'' in 1979 under Griot Records (''Disques Griot''). In August 2021, he released his first solo album ''Climat''.

References

External links

Official site of Omar Pène (In French)

Omar Pene Profile at Radio France International (RFI)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pene, Omar 21st-century Senegalese male singers Musicians from Dakar 1956 births Living people 20th-century Senegalese male singers