Quotes from Youssou N'Dour

Islam is a peaceful religion.

When the slaves left Africa, they left us this music. They left us blues.

I grew up with reggae music.

Politics is politics; art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

Politics is politics art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

I respect music, I do. I love it.

My father used to tell me about how musicians don't have respect from people and he was afraid about my future.

I think people should know more of Africa in terms of its joie de vivre, its feeling for life. In spite of the images that one knows about Africa - the economic poverty, the corruption - there's a joy to living and a happiness in community, living together, in community life, which may be missing here in America.

I look at my people, and I look at those who control them - the political elite. And the sad thing is that the elites are just not interested in the welfare of the people.

In the West, you have always associated the Islamic faith 100 percent with Arab culture. This in itself is a fundamentalist attitude and it is mistaken.

I'm a modern Muslim. I pray, and if I have a question, I ask someone who is more educated in the religion than me.

I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.

Islam is a peaceful religion.

Travel teaches as much as books.

In politics, sometimes you have to lie, or you make a promise that you cannot keep.

I look at my people, and I look at those who control them - the political elite. And the sad thing is that the elites are just not interested in the welfare of the people.

In the West, you have always associated the Islamic faith 100 percent with Arab culture. This in itself is a fundamentalist attitude and it is mistaken.

I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.

Travel teaches as much as books.

In politics, sometimes you have to lie, or you make a promise that you cannot keep.

I can assure you that I have never used my media companies for propaganda, and I will never do so.

I have to protect my family and have a life with them that is completely private.

If you come from Africa with your economic poverty and your cultural riches, and you meet someone like Peter Gabriel or a person from a big record company, and they tell you that what you are doing is marvelous, that makes you feel powerful.

Senegal needs to free itself, to rediscover its democracy.