2024-08-04 10:43:12
In Senegal, comedy is very active, but most comedians perform in Wolof, one of the most widely spoken languages in the country. To stand out from the crowd, the young people have decided to try teaching in France to try to attract a wider audience… This is the case of Abbo Star, 24 years old, who dreams of working in the world. Report from Dakar.
In a large room in a Dakar house, comedians turn in the microphone… The atmosphere is already there when Moussa Keita, aka Abbo star, takes the stage. A young man with short braids, dressed in a robe, was at ease in front of a hundred pairs of eyes.
However, it has been a year since he started preparing in France. Like many Senegalese comedians, he first wrote his words in Wolof. The words he cleared with his friends in the large coastal town of Mbour where he grew up.
“In our community, we have a shop, and almost all the young people in our community are there at night, and we make jokes. When I arrived, I spoke. All the time, I’m the one talking. I joke at home, and I came to test them. They laughed. »
But at that time, to do it, the boy had to hide from his family, who were afraid that he would drop out of school.
“My father always told me to work at school. That’s what you want. Then, I started working in storage. Sometimes, I go to play in the gym where they are hiding, and if people ask me where I am, I will say that I am in sports training. »
A comedy club as a launching pad
Abbo received his baccalaureate, then joined the law school in Dakar and continued practicing in parallel, with his father’s approval. To make yourself known and earn some money, you publish videos on social networks, get small roles in TV series, and do paid jobs at company parties.
But Abbo has a big dream, outside the borders of Senegal … Then he met Kérane Mounguengui Oke, a Gabonese student and comedian in Dakar who launched his comedy company in France and he Senegalese to join you:
“My real decision, when I created the Dakar comedy group, because I was a little disappointed not to see that in the international scene – even, only in the African scene – we don’t see any Senegalese comedians. People tell me that there are Senegalese comedians like Omar Sy, Ahmed Sylla, but they are not Senegalese comedians in the sense that they will not leave M’bour or Thiès to perform in France, Gabon or in the Ivory Coast. They are of Senegalese origin, but they are French. »
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That evening, Congolese, Gabonese and French made sketches. The goal, by promoting French, is of course to reach as wide an audience as possible. Kérane developed:
“We are not targeting only the community that understands a particular language. But there, we are also targeting Senegalese, without counting those from elsewhere: French, Belgians, Gabonese, Beninese, etc. Everyone – or HE, to joke, if I may say so – is represented in these comedy evenings. »
French, way to avoid ” they are taboo »
Abbo shares this desire and also aims to do it in other countries:
To conquer Africa too, I must start with the French countries: Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, etc. After all, Europe, and why not America in English. But for that you have to work hard, I will do my best.
In French, the comedian is even more enthusiastic in his writing:
“Comedy in France, there will be no taboo subjects. I correct people with humor. While maybe, in Wolof, if you do things, they won’t like it. For example, on religion. »
Bassirou is a Senegalese who has lived in France for eight years. This is where he used to prepare, but he took advantage of his holiday in the country to join the group for an evening. For him, Senegalese have their place on the world comedy scene.
“I think there is a “Senegalese touch” which is different from other countries. It is a country that has always been at peace, has never seen a war or conflict, etc. So people have always in the joy of life. Naturally, I see the Senegalese.
Abbo’s sketch was a success, the young man is now working on a complete show in France… and is targeting the Ivorian show “Le Parlement du laugh” for his first international work.
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