A late morning this morning, that is for sure. I was up at 9:15 but Steve mentioned that he and Chris only got back at about 6:00 when they were the last to leave from the bar. He looked a bit in bad shape.

I took the opportunity to go back to the main square where it took me a long time to get a ticket for tonight. I decided that after having the “B” ticket last night I would have an “A” ticket tonight (an extra few thousand CFAs only).

Wandering a bit around, I headed south to the southern shore of the small island. It was quite quiet down here with a small boulevard lined by palm trees. A few people were sitting chatting and a street cleaner did his business around me as I relaxed on a bench for a few minutes. I could see the south portion of both the main land and the peninsula. Directly west from where I was on the peninsula is the Muslim cemetery which was easy to pick out and south of that is basically unoccupied and, I am told, has a number of good beaches. As I walked along the western side of the island I could see the peninsula was built up quite a bit as I got closer to the centre of the island (and nearer to the two bridges that connect the island with the peninsula). Looking at it reminded me a lot of the Serekunda area in the Gambia – a lot of small market stalls off of small, narrow alleys with only the most rudimentary walls and roofs. There were a lot of people as well.

The amount of rubish on the river side was truly appauling with people using it as a rubish tip as well as a (very) public latrine. I was startled to find that people were actually fishing in the river and even more surprised to see that they actually caught fish!

I crossed to the peninsula by the Pont Mustapha Malick Gaye bridge which had a narrow concrete path elevated beside the roadway. I crossed through the mayhem of the market area (and bush taxi junction, it seems) to find the beach on the ocean side. I eventually found it – covered with fishing boats (pirogues). I mean literally, every few feet there was another boat and I could see no open stretches of beaches in either direction. I was later told by Steve and Chris who walked considerably further south then where I was that there was indeed a large stretch of fairly nice beach a ways from where I was.

I leaned up against a boat and watched a group of fisherman as they struggled to get their motor working as the waves crashed under the half of the boat that was in the water. There were a lot of waves and the breeze coming from the ocean was not only refreshing but it also helped to get rid of some of the stench coming from the beach itself. As I stood there a number of small children were using a stretch to my left as a latrine. I also had the opportunity to purchase an illegal substance of my choice by a gentleman lounging in the shade of a nearby boat…I declined.

Since I could not walk in either direction due to the profusion of boats and as I was becoming a bit overwhelmed by the…atmosphere, I headed back across the bridge I had just crossed back to the island itself. Returning to the hostel, I met Steve and Chris then we headed out to have lunch at a small bar on the east coast of the island just across the road from Marcos Jazz – Flamingo's. It was a nice small bar with very good fresh fish.

After wandering for a few minutes after lunch eventually I headed back to the hostel to relax – I had been walking a fair amount today.

At 5:00 I headed off to see the “Off” stage (as opposed to the “In” stage which is the one you need a ticket for at night) which is on the south-east shore of the island near where I was walking earlier today. It is a small stage set-up on the dirt road beside the water. There were not many people there and they seemed to have a lot of trouble with the sound system (I am told that this year the sound systems are no where near as good as other years) and they eventually gave up on even having the first band (Vaps de Brin) play more than just two or three numbers at 7:00. A new group (Xalaat) started at 7:30 who managed to get the sound working to their liking and I stayed until 8:00 when I headed back to the hostel to get ready for the evening. They were not too bad – really a relaxing, what I might call a “lounge jazz band”.

Heading out at 9:15 for the 9:15 show (a 10 minute, at least, walk away) I was, of course, very early. As it turns out, extremely early as the group only started at 11:00. We were told (in French) that this was due to the fact that the group's plane was late into Dakar – they came from South Africa. Judith Sephuma was not too bad – a lady jazz singer – getting better as the group “warmed up” and had various teething problems (one of her back-up singers did not show up until about a 1/2 hour into the show looking a bit haggard).

I sat through the interval between acts and waited for the second act which was supposed to begin at 11:00 but, obviously, with the delays of the first act, began at about 1:00 (am). This was Aka Moon et Doudou Ndiaye Rose. The first half of the act “Aka Moon” was a jazz quartet of VERY technical jazz players which I found very hard to follow (intermingling solos and extremely stilted sounding). The “Doudou Ndiaye Rose” part of the act consisted of about six Senegalese traditional drummers and when they joined in things got REALLY good. The two halves challenged each other with solo after solo. It was odd because we lost the (electrical) sound system a few times but, of course, the drummers simply carried on but it meant a few awkward moments such as when the lead drummer challenged the guitarist who could not reply due to the lack of power. The jazz quartet just let the drummers do their own thing in these times – fantastic. After having been nearly asleep during the technical part when only “Aka Moon” was playing I was wide awake and enjoying it when the two played together.

At 2:30 the concert finished and I joined the good sized crowd as we made our way out of the gates and I headed right home – no Jazz club for me tonight I am sorry to say.

Back at the hostel I was asked by the custodian whether I would mind if his brother stayed in the room I was using (as there were two unoccupied beds). I could think of no good reasons to refuse (other than general awkwardness and a bit of a concern about the security of my belongings) so he is sleeping on the bed opposite me. Hope he does not snore (well, I do, I am told…).

⇒ Continue to Friday, May 17th, 2002 - St. Louis, Senegal