Vieux Diop only solo album!!!!!! Vieux Diop, whose real name is Alioune, takes the heart of West African music into new territory, making it modern without losing its ancient sight. Vieux owes his musical heritage not only to his mother, who was always singing the melodies and rhythms of Senegal, their West African homeland, but to his love of American music. “John Lee Hooker was my guy, and James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett.&#8221 His first instrument, at age 11, was a set of trap drums, which he played on Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour’s first hit recording in the 1970s. He played with N’Dour’s band Jamono in Dakar and toured with him in Gambia.