DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In a classroom at the House of Urban Culture, tucked away in the narrow streets of Dakar, Senegal, Aminata Thiam claps her hands in time with a beat she created on her computer. “You just have to find the loop that you want. Cut it, duplicate the sample, and then add your effects,” she says.
She is teaching a beatmaking class to five young women, each working intently on beats of their own on the computers in front of them. Thiam, 31, is a beatmaker, one of only a few women in Senegal who call themselves such. Their discipline is the art of “making beats, making rhythms,” Thiam says.
She traces a line from American DJs like and credited as among to beatmakers today. using synthesizers or by isolating specific beats in a song and playing them on a loop by switching between two record players. “Now when we talk about beatmaking, we are talking about doing this with a computer,” Thiam says, crediting technology — including the advent of software — with democratizing the art.
The House of Urban Culture sees a rotating crew of anyone and everyone part of — rappers, slam poets, skaters and even the graffiti artists whose works adorn the walls. The center that opened in 2018 hosts rap concerts and beatboxing festivals, and offers free training in everything from DJing to photography in an effort to transform young people’s interest in hip-hop into professions. Thiam’s stage name is “Myamy the Ay Girl,” a mixture of English and Wolof .
