Élage Diouf

Biography

El Hadji Fall Diouf was born in Dakar, Sénégal. He is the ninth child of a family of ten.

From an early age, El Hadji is attracted to music. He learns to play percussions on his own, in the streets.

First, El Hadji develops his passion but still hides it from his parents. Later, he feeds his musical ambitions with his brother, Pape Abdou Karim Diouf. Together, they improve their musical talent and make themselves known in their native community.

In 1996, the two brothers visit the city of Montreal, in Québec, for a two months concert series. They decide together to settle in Montreal after this experience.

The Diouf brothers

After being a part of many show tours inside Senegal, and a six-month tour all over Europe, El Hadji and Karim are hired by the troupe Diamono Ballet for a series of concerts in Quebec, including the FrancoFolies de Montreal festival. This is their first visit in Quebec; after this experience, they decided to settle in. Quickly, the two siblings get known on the Montreal music scene.

El Hadji and Karim, now called "the Diouf brothers", are required to play with many bands and artists, such as Loco Locass, Dumbatique, Stefie Shock, Roch Voisine and Ariane Moffatt, on stage and in studio.

But they will be revealed to the Quebec public thanks to their collaboration with Les Colocs on the album Dehors Novembre, where they are heard singing in wolof, their native language. El Hadji cowrites the song Tassez-vous de d'là with André Fortin, which will let him win the SOCAN Echo award as a cowiter.

In 2003, the duet, renamed "Diouf", released their first album, called Dund (wolof word that means "living"), which will get three nominations at the Gala de l'ADISQ 2004.

Then, from 2005 to 2008, the two brothers worked for the music of the Cirque du Soleil show Delirium. They went on tour with the show all over the world. El Hadji has been a part of all the representations as a singer and percussionist.

Aksil

In 2010, El Hadji, under the frenchified name "Élage", released his first solo album, named Aksil (wolof word that means "welcome", "come in"). By its title, the album represents accessibility, opening; an invitation to enter a musical world.

Élage sings mainly in wolof, but also in French and English. The album is festive; the songs address many themes such as love, peace, hope, adventure, etc. This album is inspired by many cultures: a mix of folk, blues and world music, it has Scottish influences (Yone Wi), Brazilian influences (Tanta); it offers a cover of an old John Hartford country song (Man of Constant Sorrow) and a cover of a Francis Cabrel song (Madame X). Aksil is also an album of many collaborations, including with Jenny Salgado from Muzion, Mike Sawatski from Les Colocs and Jean Leloup.

The album is considered a success by the public and the critics. Aksil received three nominations at the Gala de l'ADISQ 2011, and won a Juno for "World Music Album of the Year" in 2011.

Melokáane

After a five-year absence, Diouf announced in Spring 2015 that he would soon release a new album.

On August 28, 2015, Diouf presented Melokáane (wolof word that means "reflection", "image"), his second solo album. The album title refers to the identity, humanity, to the reflection of a life's journey at the present moment. Once again, Élage sings mainly in his native wolof language, and in English and French. The album is a mix of african rhythms with blues influences (Tay), reggae influences (Melokáane), jazzy influences (Misal), rock influences (Secret World, Dekoulo Fi) and pop influences (Just One Day). It touches on different subjects: celebration, resilience, life's fragility, challenges faced by immigrants' integrating into a new society and the personal aspect of spiritual bonds. The album pays tribute to emblematic figures in the struggle for human rights (Mandela and Sankara, which is sung in French); it offers a wolof adaptation of a Peter Gabriel song (Secret World); it includes a duet with canadian multi-platinum singer Johnny Reid (Just One Day) and a collaboration with guitarist Jordan Officer (Tay).

The album, considered more reflexive and introspective than its predecessor, received an enthusiastic reception.

Albums

Solo

Diouf'

Les Colocs