Jimi Mbaye (1957–2025)

The world lost one of the greatest guitarists when Mamadou “Jimi” Mbaye passed away on Feb. 11, 2025. Jimi has been working with Youssou N’dour since 1979 and also released three solo albums and produced albums for other musicians at his studio.

Jimi had a unique guitar style where he makes his guitar sound like traditional instruments such as the kora. As he sang in “Youssou Madjiguène”:

When I play my guitar
In my mind’s eye I see
Now the kora,
Now the xalam.

Jimi Mbaye and Youssou N’dour created the genre of Senegalese popular music known as mbalax and they were a great team. At times they appeared to read each other’s mind and anticipate the next move.

One of Jimi’s best performances was “Birima” with Youssou N’dour, where he first plays a solo reminiscent of a kora melody and then seamlessly segues into the song.

Jimi wrote a beautiful tribute to Youssou N’dour, “Youssou Madjiguène”, for his first solo album, “Dakar Heart”.