Democracy in Dakar panelist bios:
Benjamin Herson, director and producer of "Democracy in Dakar," is the founder and director of Nomadic Wax, a global hip-hop record label and production company dedicated to recording, documenting and presenting hip-hop and underground music from around the world. Herson has a B.A. in African Studies and Anthropology from Hampshire College and studied Wolof at Columbia University. He is also an internationally celebrated producer and musician.
Timothy Mangin is a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at Columbia University. His dissertation is entitled "Senegalese Urban Popular Music: Jazz, Mbalax, and Rap." Mangin holds a B.A, in music from Bowdoin College and a Certificate in African Studies from the Institute of African Studies at Columbia. He was also a pre-doctoral fellow in the Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar on Globalizing City Cultures at the Center for Comparative Literature and Society.
Baay Bia is an award-winning musician and MC from Dakar, Senegal. He began performing in 1991, and in 1993 he formed the group Black Face Productions. His first album, Nation, a collaboration with Bill Diakhou, won the Senegalese Hip Hop Awards in 2002. He released his first solo album, Le Messager, in 2004, and his second, Lilaay Wommat, in 2006. In 2009, Baay Bia and Nomadic Wax released the music video for "Liy Am Amna," directed by Nomadic Wax filmmaker and co-director of "Democracy in Dakar" Magee McIlvaine.
Benjamin Herson, director and producer of "Democracy in Dakar," is the founder and director of Nomadic Wax, a global hip-hop record label and production company dedicated to recording, documenting and presenting hip-hop and underground music from around the world. Herson has a B.A. in African Studies and Anthropology from Hampshire College and studied Wolof at Columbia University. He is also an internationally celebrated producer and musician.
Timothy Mangin is a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at Columbia University. His dissertation is entitled "Senegalese Urban Popular Music: Jazz, Mbalax, and Rap." Mangin holds a B.A, in music from Bowdoin College and a Certificate in African Studies from the Institute of African Studies at Columbia. He was also a pre-doctoral fellow in the Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar on Globalizing City Cultures at the Center for Comparative Literature and Society.
Baay Bia is an award-winning musician and MC from Dakar, Senegal. He began performing in 1991, and in 1993 he formed the group Black Face Productions. His first album, Nation, a collaboration with Bill Diakhou, won the Senegalese Hip Hop Awards in 2002. He released his first solo album, Le Messager, in 2004, and his second, Lilaay Wommat, in 2006. In 2009, Baay Bia and Nomadic Wax released the music video for "Liy Am Amna," directed by Nomadic Wax filmmaker and co-director of "Democracy in Dakar" Magee McIlvaine.
