The holy city of Touba, spiritual centre of Senegal’s Mouride brotherhood, gives its name to the new single from Aldiana Fall, the Stuttgart-based Senegalese drummer and vocalist born Mame Cheikh Seck.

Born in Mbour, Fall grew up inside a griot household where drum language, storytelling and movement shaped everyday life. The djembe became his primary instrument. He founded his group Touba Fall Djachas Ritmo in 1997 and worked as a drum teacher at the Hotel Filaos in Saly until the end of 1999. He moved to Paris in early 2000 and has toured Europe since. He has been based in Stuttgart since 2009.

“Touba” belongs to Giaar music, the genre Fall created that places djembe, dundun and xhin — the sacred instrument of the Baye Fall — at its core. The recording relies entirely on live playing. Fall describes Giaar music as “music from God, for God, and for all people.”

The track is sung entirely in Wolof and addressed to Serigne Abdoul Karim Mbacke Murtala, a figure within the Mbacke lineage, the same family as Ahmadou Bamba. Throughout the song, Fall refers to him using three honorific forms: Serigne Karim, with Serigne indicating a religious teacher; Mame Karim, where Mame signals veneration; and Baye Karim, with Baye meaning father. These terms all reflect the forms of respect customary in Mouride devotional practice.

The song opens with “Dieurredieuf Mbacke” — thank you, Mbacke — establishing gratitude as the starting point. The repeated line “Man de beuggue na la” states affection directly: I love you. “Sama Bamba ngeu Mame” situates the singer within the Bamba tradition through insistence. The phrase “Ila Touba, Kou Magal dinga mag” links the text to the annual Grand Magal pilgrimage in Touba, which marks the anniversary of Ahmadou Bamba’s exile to Gabon in 1895. Through these calls and returns, the single places itself within a devotional framework shaped by Mouride practice.

Learn more about Fall and his work through THIS LINK