It stands 49 metres tall at the western tip of Africa. The costly bronze statue, on a hilltop overlooking the Atlantic from Dakar, Senegal, is meant to symbolise continental renaissance. Critics regard it as a symbol too — of another African leader who has lost the plot, consumed by hubris.
Who, then, will challenge its builder, Abdoulaye Wade, the octogenarian president set on clinging to power beyond his time? Step forward Youssou N'Dour, spine-tingling singer, composer, occasional actor, entrepreneur, political activist and now would-be saviour of Africa's latest imperilled democracy. The 52-year-old has suspended his lucrative recording and touring career to take up his "supreme patriotic duty" of running for president in next month's Senegalese elections. Accusing Wade of "hearing only in mono, not stereo", N'Dour says he is answering the demand of the people for an alternative.
From Later ... With Jools Holland to the political front line, time will tell whether this will also go down as an act of hubris. Gloriously gifted, N'Dour is the undisputed king of Senegalese music, mixing the country's traditional mbalax with everything from Cuban rumba to hip hop, jazz and soul. His prolific output sings of Africa's identity, heritage and hopes, sometimes with a political edge. He is arguably the most important figure in world music.
And he is famous for much more than being famous: the embodiment of the self-made man, he is feted at home as an entrepreneur and job-creator, owning two recording studios, a micro-finance company and a stake in a leading nightclub. He is a media mogul with TV and radio stations and the widely read L'Observateur newspaper. "I have more than a thousand people working for me," he told the BBC recently.
His political credentials doubtless make him palatable to the West. N'Dour campaigned for the release of Nelson Mandela, performed at concerts for Amnesty International and Live 8, and is a Unicef goodwill ambassador. But his change of gear now, plunging into the hurly-burly of domestic politics, is something else. It could be described as analogous to Bob Geldof or Bono running for taoiseach.
N'Dour is a late entrant to a crowded field and his political nous is questioned. "For the last 20 to 30 years, this man has been able to express the feelings of the Senegalese," said Mamadou Diouf, a Senegalese academic and the director of the Institute for African Studies at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in New York. "But how is he going to move from the claim, ‘I am not a politician' to a genuine campaign for political office?"
Diouf believes the musician has an uphill task to win the election, arguing that he lacks organisation and that Senegalese voters tend to prefer their leaders university-educated in the Western tradition. N'Dour does not even have a school certificate. He was born in a working-class suburb of Dakar, the eldest child of a car mechanic, and began by hustling pirated CDs in car parks. "It's true that I haven't pursued higher education," he admitted. "I have proved my competence, commitment, rigour and efficiency time and time again. I have studied at the school of the world."
Political rivals should heed his resilience, however. He won a Grammy in 2005 for Egypt, an album of Islamic praise songs. N'Dour is a member of the country's most powerful Sufi brotherhood, which will do his election chances no harm. He told Observer Music Monthly in 2004: "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. But for me bringing religion into politics is wrong and it shouldn't be necessary to kill even one person in the cause of Islam."
Egypt was interpreted as a political statement in the post-9/11 world and N'Dour cancelled a major US tour after the Iraq war. In 2006, he was the only black actor in Amazing Grace, Michael Apted's film about slavery. As a goodwill ambassador for Unicef, he has focused on African issues such as the Darfur crisis, broadening internet access and the famine in Somalia.
N'Dour once supported Wade and sang for him during official visits before they fell out. The president's 11-year reign has been soured by widespread allegations of corruption, nepotism and erosion of free speech. N'Dour's bid to restore the democratic shine is no publicity seeking whimsy, according to Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society. "Youssou N'Dour is a really serious guy," he said. "He genuinely cares about the music and gets involved in the causes."
Critics take a different view, arguing that N'Dour is running for president to protect his businesses from Wade. When he applied for a licence to open his TV station, approval was held up for two years and he was then ordered to limit its programming to "cultural" matters. Diouf suspects that it may be commercial interests, not change-the-world idealism, which prompted N'Dour to enter politics now.
Indeed, the pragmatic N'Dour risks being seen as more Cliff Richard than Occupy Wall Street. He is most popular for the mbalax beat, a traditional style that does not necessarily resonate with the under-25s who make up about two thirds of Senegal's population. They favour hip hop and it is rappers who have taken the lead in agitating against Wade.
"N'Dour is 52. He's part of the old group. He's no longer a social interpreter; he's now a well-established artist and entrepreneur. The rappers are playing the most important role against President Wade," Diouf said.
