{{Short description|Senegalese musician (born 1955)}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2010}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} thumb|Image of Omar Pene
'''Omar Pene''' (born 28 December 1955) is a Senegalese vocalist and composer, who is the lead singer of Super Diamono, and is now a solo artist.<ref name="harris">{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p43382|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Omar Pene|last=Harris|first=Craig|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=10 June 2010}}</ref>
==Career== Omar Pene was born in the working-class neighborhood of Derkle in Dakar into a wolof family. Having been singing his whole life and playing in other bands, he formed Super Diamono in 1975–76, with previous bandmates Cheikh Diagne, Bassirou Diagne, and Bazlo Diagne, along with members of Tropical Jazz De Dakar, including singer Ismael Lo.<ref name="harris"/> Other members of the band included Bob Sene, Aziz Seck, Lapa Diagne, Abdou Mbacke and Adama Faye, a jazz keyboardist who gave the group a harder electric sound.<ref name="harris"/> Under their new name ''Super Diamono de Dakar'', the band released their first album ''Géédy Dayaan'' in 1979 under Griot Records (''Disques Griot'').<ref>Mazzoleni, Florent, ''L'épopée de la musique africaine: One of.his most beautiful song Is laax jaay,'' Hors collection (2008), p. 81, {{ISBN|9782258076150}}</ref>
In Dakar, during the 1980s, Super Diamono were one of the few bands who could compete with Youssou Ndour in Dakar,<ref name="harris"/> and the two singers had a lively artistic competition, both with devoted fanbases. Fans of Pene and Super Diamono used to congregate particularly at the Balafon Club, near the Autonomous Port of Dakar. Super Diamono's music was energetic reggae and jazz influenced dance music rooted in Senegalese mbalax rhythms, which are frenetic and syncopated.<ref name="harris"/> Their songs cover socially conscious topics such as unemployment and education, and they were described by ''Rough Guide: World Music'' as "the people's band of Dakar's proletarian suburbs".<ref name="harris"/>
In the mid-1980s, Ismael Lo left to follow a solo career and was replaced by Mamadou Lamine Maïga. By 1991, most of the group's original members had left for other projects, and Pene continued the band with session musicians, touring Europe and North America four years later.<ref name="harris"/> To date, he has released more than thirty albums and cassettes.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}
In August 2021, he released his first solo album ''Climat''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Omar Pène, la conscience écologique|url=https://musique.rfi.fr/musique-africaine/20210813-omar-pene-conscience-ecologique|author=RFI|website=rfi.fr|date=13 August 2021|access-date=13 August 2021|publication-date=}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.omarpene.com Official site of Omar Pène (In French)] * [http://www.rfimusique.com/musiquefr/articles/065/article_15490.asp Omar Pene Profile at Radio France International (RFI)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517083909/http://www.rfimusique.com/musiquefr/articles/065/article_15490.asp |date=17 May 2008 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pene, Omar}} Category:21st-century Senegalese male singers Category:Musicians from Dakar Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Senegalese male singers