Raw talent, exhilarating energy on stage and in his impassioned speeches: Senegalese musician Sahad has created a unique body of work, a "kaleidoscope" of reinvented African, American, and other musical influences. It culminates in his latest album, an ode to "musical pan-Africanism" that invites African youth to a cultural and identity-based "reappropriation."

At the heart of Sahad Sarr's creativity lies a fierce quest for independence, his "pride" in being African, and an anchoring in his country where he leads projects to tell young people that it is possible to "reinvent" a world in Senegal.

On stage, the charisma of this "sound carrier", author-composer, guitarist, singer, founder of the group "SAHAD", is impressive.

Nicknamed the "Senegalese James Brown," there's a touch of Fela Kuti in his trance-like energy and mastery of Afrobeat, and a hint of Ali Farka Touré in the sounds of his guitar and the bluesy quality of his voice. But above all, he has created, in ten years, a unique universe. Having become a leading figure in alternative music in Senegal, he insists that music there is not limited to "mbalax" alone.

"The major music labels in Africa, Europe or the United States always have problems defining my music!", smiles Sahad, aged 37.

"I make jazz fusion, mixed with afrobeat, funk, traditional rhythms from Senegal, Mali, from my home, the Serer people; I have had influences from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, James Brown... it's a kaleidoscopic music!".

In recent years, he has performed with his band around the world, and was selected to represent Senegal at the major international jazz festival "jazzahead!" in April.

His latest album, "African West Station", a "decolonial plea" and powerful manifesto of "musical pan-Africanism", with very carefully crafted sounds and arrangements, offers a plunge into the world of a pirate radio station, the result of four years of research in the archives of post-independence West African music from the 60s to the 80s.

- "West African Imaginary" -

"It was important to make an album that recounts the history of all these socio-cultural and political movements and struggles," he said, emphasizing that he wanted "a fusion to show a collective West African imagination" mixed with sounds from Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana...

At the end of January, the artist and his musicians - from Congo, Ivory Coast, Benin and Senegal - offered a galvanizing and frenetic show on the stage of the French Institute of Senegal in Dakar.

Sahad was on vocals, guitar, percussion, and bandleader.

In "Ya Bon", he criticizes current and past African heads of state who have maintained "a servile relationship with the colonizer to perpetuate Françafrique".

On "We can do," an anthem to inspiring African youth, he urges "to build connections." There's also "Ndakaaru," celebrating Dakar, "a city of history and cultural fusion," and the delicate "Ne Mbife" (I love you, in Bambara) where his captivating voice pays tribute to women and their resilience.

A few days after this concert, AFP met him at his home studio in Dakar.

- "Responsibility" -

With an intense gaze, he rejoices to be part of a "new generation" that "claims a certain freedom, identity and authenticity" and also wants to "revisit the image conveyed about Africa and Africans".

The album "promotes a youth free from hang-ups, a cultural reappropriation, a new relationship with the world."

He says he has often been offended by "people who have clichés about African music, who expect Africa to produce a type of sound for them," like that of the kora or percussion... "We create our own sonic identity!" he emphasizes.

Creator of his independent label "Stereo Africa 432", which also supports emerging Senegalese musicians, he is the originator of the major "Stereo Africa" festival in Dakar, dedicated to contemporary music from the continent and its diaspora, and a place for "transmissions".

"Beyond the hip-hop and mbalax scenes, there is a renewal carried by these alternative scenes which make Senegal vibrate and bring music to life, with the introduction of a reinvented reggae, a reinvented folk; all of this is carried by Sahad," says Moka Kamara, cultural journalist at "Soleil".

Sahad's convictions led him to found the eco-village of Kamyaak (western Senegal), where he spends the other half of his life. This community is working on solutions to combat climate change, poverty, and rural exodus.

A "place of meditation, of reappropriation of our culture and our multiple identities", to "reinvent our world", smiles the artist, who has been following a Sufi spiritual path for 20 years.

"We can feel a wave of revolutions taking place in Africa and a break with this post-colonial trauma, but it cannot happen if we do not arm ourselves with knowledge, understanding and responsibility, to propose something," he argues.