Senegal / 2008 / 52mins / Documentary / Wolof, Sérère and French

Yandé Codou Sène (80 years old) is one of the last great singers of polyphonic Sérère poetry. This film is an intimate look at a diva who has lived through the history of Senegal at the side of one of its greatest near-mythical figures, President-poet Léopold Sédar Senghor.

Angèle Diabang

Born in 1979 in Dakar, Angèle Diabang studied at the Dakar Media Centre, La Fémis in Paris, the Filmakademie in Germany, and participated in the Eurodoc training program. She began her career as a camera operator and editor before directing, her first short documentary My Beautiful Smile (2005), shown in more than fifty festivals. She directed Senegalese Women and Islam in 2007, Yandé Codou, Senghor’s Griot in 2008, and Dr. Mukwege, the Man Who Saves Women in 2014. In 2006, Diabang created Karoninka, her production company, and has produced several films including the short film Jakob by Benjamin M. Gronau (Germany, 2010), the documentary The Rite, the Madwoman and Me by Gentille ASSIH (Togo, 2012), among others. Learn More