Issa Cissokho (September 1946 – 24 March 2019) (also written as Cissoxo or Cissoko) was a Senegalese musician of Malian

griot A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a repos ...

roots, a composer, and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

player for

Orchestra Baobab Orchestra Baobab is a Senegalese band established in 1970 as the house band of the Baobab Club in Dakar. Many of the band's original members had previously played with Star Band de Dakar in the 1960s. Directed by ''timbalero'' and vocalist Balla S ...

. Cissokho was recruited to Orchestra Baobab in 1972 while playing in Dakar's Vedette Band, which featured singer

Laba Sosseh Laba Badara Sosseh; Labba Sosseh or Laba Sosseh (born March 12, 1943 in ''Bathurst'' now Banjul, Gambia, died September 20, 2007 in Dakar, Senegal) was a Senegalese son and salsa singer and composer. According to Abdoulaye Saine of Miami Univ ...

. With the Orchestra, he played

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and occasionally

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

, with Thierno Koite (replacing original member Baro N’Diaye) playing

Soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and alto. Cissokho was noted for his charisma on stage, and his eclectic musical taste, which led him to write

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

- and

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

-flavored tunes for Orchestra Baobab. Cissokho performed and recorded with other musicians, notably

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

. Cissokho was also a member of the "Afro-Salseros de Senegal", a Senegalese ensemble that recorded in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in 2001, shortly after diplomatic relations with Senegal were normalized, and toured intermittently in the years after. In this project, he was reunited with Sosseh, who had spent many years in the Americas building a reputation as a mainstream

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

singer. He died on 24 March 2019 at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cissokho, Issa 1946 births 2019 deaths Musicians from Dakar 20th-century saxophonists 21st-century saxophonists