BEHIND THE SCENES
Sometimes you have to get lost to find what you’re looking for. The truth is, when I boarded the ferry to Gorée Island I thought (thanks to an erroneous map I’d found online) that Dread Amala’s Bufalo Soldier record shop was on the island. It was only the blank stares I got when asking for the ‘boutique de musique’ that helped me realise I’d been misinformed. During my search a few helpful souls pointed me in the direction of a ‘studio’, which I naturally wanted to investigate. That’s how I stumbled across Civil Society (guitarist Fallou Kandji, pictured) and the remarkable story of the reggae band who make their music in a former slave fort.