La sélection de / Jems Koko Bi: Playlist musicale et autres contenus culturels

"I listened to this Bob Dylan song for a long time during the first years of my artistic involvement because the content was part of the questions I was already asking myself." Jems Koko Bi (JKB)

Born in 1941 in the United States, Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, painter and poet. With a complex, constantly evolving body of work ranging from aggressive rock to ballads and close to the social and cultural aspirations of the times it has lived through, he is one of the major figures of American popular music.

Image: Jems Koko Bi, No Man's Land, 2015

"Jimmy Cliff's Many rivers to cross has helped me a lot to give me courage in my solitary commitment. When my first wings grew after my downs, this song accompanied me on my very first flight." JKB

Born in Jamaica in 1944, Jimmy Cliff, is one of the most recognized Jamaican reggae singers of his generation. Many Rivers to cross was composed by the artist in 1969, and has since been performed by many artists, including John Lennon and Joe Cocker. The title was honoured with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2011.

Image: Jems Koko Bi, Cercle de vies, 2018

"Issa Samb, called Joe Ouakam, was my spiritual father. The man who accompanied with his philosophy, wisdom and knowledge the whole process of my artistic life. He taught me a lot about life and the way of Art." JKB

Issa Samb (1945-2017) - also known as Joe Ouakam, after his home neighbourhood in Dakar - is a Senegalese sculptor, painter, actor, critic, author, poet, playwright and philosopher.An emblematic figure of the Agit-Art movement, created in the early 1970s with director Djibril Diop Mambéty and a collective of artists, writers and filmmakers, Issa Samb was one of the first to openly criticize the ideology of Negritude promoted by Senghor and to denounce the political turn taken by the arts in Senegal.