Senegalese music star Thione Seck dies aged 66

Thione Ballago Seck, from a family of “griot” singers, one of the West African country’s most famous musicians, alongside Youssou Ndour, Omar Pene, Ismael Lo and his own son, Wally Seck, has died at the age of 66 in Dakar on Sunday, al Jazeera reports. In the 1970s he sang in the Orchestre Baobab, known for playing a mix of Afro-Cuban salsa and traditional Senegalese music. In 1980 the singer and lyricist founded Raam Daam, which became one of the most popular purveyors of mblalax, a genre combining funk, reggae, dance music and local rhythms.