b. c.1952, Dakar, Senegal. Diop moved to Paris at the age of 20 and co-founded the West African Cosmos, a pioneering Afro-Parisian band. Travelling to Jamaica in the late 70s, he worked at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio before moving to China and then England, where he recorded tracks with Robin Millar, Sade's producer, that were never released. Returning to Paris, he co-wrote Amina Annabi's Eurovision Song Contest winner "C'est Le Dernier Qui A Parl‚ Qui A Raison' and, in 1993, supplied the soundtrack music to HyŠnes, a film directed by his brother Djibril Diop Mamb‚ty. 1995"s No Sant entered the UK album chart and "African Dream", a single taken from it featuring Lena Fiagbe, made the UK Top 50. Polished and diverse (one track featured African drumming, bagpipes and a Japanese opera singer!), No Saint was one of the most popular world music albums of the year. Toxu, the follow-up, was released three years later. Produced by Wally Badarou, it was even glossier-sounding than its predecessor. The most interesting track on the album was an inventive vocal/percussion-based version of Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime".

Listen to Wasis Diop at Finetune.

• (2008)  Judu Bék
• (2008)  Toxu
• (1998)  Toxu
• (1996)  No Sant (What's your name?)

• Everything (...Is Never Quite Enough)
• No Sant (feat. Lena Fiagbe) (Flytronix Mix)
• Once In a Lifetime
• Colobane - Hymne for African Unity
• Soweto Daal

• Baaba Maal
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• Salif Keita
• Ali Farka Toure
• Toure Kunda
• Afro Celt Sound System
• King Sunny Ade
• Bonga
• Papa Wemba
• Cesaria Evora
• Youssou N'Dour
• Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca
• Angelique Kidjo
• Fatala
• Baka Beyond
• Cheb Mami
• Johnny Clegg
• Africa Negra
• Toumani Diabate
• Cheikh Lo

• zello