October, 1987. An open-air amphitheatre cut into a mountain overlooking the twinkling sprawl of nighttime Athens. Thousands of people are going crazy for a young Senegalese singer they’d never heard of until moments before, when headline act Peter Gabriel walked onstage and introduced him. Here, then, is N’Dour’s opening set from that legendary Live in Athens show, as performed by an act on the cusp of Western stardom. An act that had transformed Senegalese music by playing traditional rhythms on electric instruments, fronted by a singer whose charisma, multi-talents and social conscience would eventually see him acknowledged as one of the most celebrated African musicians in history.
