Pr. Sène offering a gift to Percy Sledge
Percy Sledge talking to the audience
Percy Sledge singing with Vieux Mac Faye
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Pr. Sène offering a gift to Percy Sledge |
Percy Sledge talking to the audience |
Percy Sledge singing with Vieux Mac Faye |
As a start up to the Warc Lecture Series, world famous Soul Singer, Percy Sledge, was invited by the West African Research Center (Warc) to give a lecture on the question: "What is Soul?". The event took place today Wednesday December 7 from 3:30 to 4:45 in the Conference Hall UCAD II of University Cheikh Anta Diop. It was attended by senegalese students, researchers, academics and music lovers as well as a number of foreign students and researchers including americans.University officials were represented by the Dean of the College of Letters and Human Sciences, Prof Mamadou Kandji. After a number of introductory remarks from Prof Kandji, the AROA President, Prof Ibrahima Thioub and the WARC Director, Ousmane Sene and a few others, Percy Sledge took the floor to explain that Soul is soul because it is the expression of feelings and situations experienced in real life. When people ask him why he sheds tears while singing he says that he answers explaining that his own life is in his songs whether in the shape of love experiences or the experiences of the hardships of life. A few questions were asked to Percy Sledge before he was given a gift from WARC (a nice sculpted walking stick) by Prof Ousmane Sene, Director of the West African Research Center.The event also featured a live performance by a Senegalese band leader and guitar player, Vieux Mac Faye, excelling in the performance of successful Soul and Rythm and Blues songs including the world famous "Proud Mary". To wrap it all up, Vieux Mac played one of Percy Sledge's greatest hits, "When a Man Loves a Woman" and invited the star to join him with the song. Everybody was delighted to realise that inspite of all the years from the 70's to now, good old Percy has retained the same charming and alluring voice.