Etu was born in Dakar, Senegal. Ring a bell?
Ok, here is a list of hints:
Goree Island? President-Poet Senghor? Soccer player El Hadj Diouf? Youssou Ndour?
Etu’s interest in music was first noticed by his brother Ely who early introduced him to jazz –mainly modern jazz and fusion- and to a variety of great players including Miles Davis, Stanley Clark, Chick Corea, The Crusaders, George Benson, Grover Washington (Winelight album with Marcus Miller), Carlos Santana, Chuck Mangione, David Sanborn, etc. Etu started playing the electric Guitar at age 13 and learned the fundamentals on his own afterschool and more and more during school hours. His growing desire to learn more made him try other instruments such as the piano and drums but he quickly turned to the electric bass after listening to Youssou Ndour’s bass player Habib Faye, who later became a friend and a mentor. He bought his first bass guitar (a second hand Fender Jazz bass with only two strings) at age 16 after breaking his piggy bank and borrowing from an older friend and all time supporter. Parents shouldn’t know he was playing music and this all business was still very much kept secret at that stage.
After only a year of playing the bass and hundreds of hours listening to Weather Report’s Heavy Weather and Jaco Pastorius’ solo album, he decided to form his own band named “Korus” an Afro-beat project. To achieve his goal, Etu taught his cousin and two close friends to play the guitar, the keyboards and drums respectively. There, he improved his song writing and arranging skills while still exploring the bass instrument. He discovered in the late 80s, an awesome band named UZEB with Alain Caron on bass and a remarkable guitarist and composer Michel Cusson. UZEB had a great influence on him. Then followed other discoveries such as Jimmy Haslip, Darryl Jones, Victor Bailey, John Pattitucci. But the most amazing discovery is certainly Victor Wooten in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones’ 1993 “Three flew over a cuckoos’ nest” CD, a copy of which his brother sent him after witnessing what he called “one of the most incredible concerts of the band” at the GW Listner auditorium in DC, the same year.
While improving his jazz/fusion education, Etu joined Senegal female singer Kine Lam and her band the “Kaggu” orchestra for a world tour at age 18. Over the following years, he recorded six albums with the band while featuring on other projects. Then he started a long music journey playing with some of the country’s most famous and talented musicians including world famous: Youssou Ndour, Baba Maal and Ismael Lo, while keeping the Korus afrojazz experience alive with friends.
Over the last decade, Etu has been living in the Washington DC area, and palyed with a wide variety of local DC bands, including an original performance in Fusion band ‘Post Modern Blues’ (PMB) “Many Designs” album released recently
