Meet Baboucar
Baboucar Diedhiou, son of local drumming legend Bacary Olé is a master bougarabou player from Abéné, Senegal. He is a passionate performer and devoted teacher with a mission to spread the joy of bougarabou - a deep-toned drum - throughout the world.
"My father always told me that bougarabou was in my blood and a gift from God"
Offerings
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Classes
Baboucar offers personalised classes for beginners to professional musicians looking to develop new skills. Choose between one-on-one sessions or group classes, and learn at your own pace. Classes are available online or in person, guided by Baboucar’s warm, patient, and generous teaching approach.
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Collaborations
Collaborations with Baboucar are welcome across all music genres. With its deep bass tones, sharp slaps, and flowing rhythms, Bougarabou stands as one of West Africa’s most expressive and adaptable percussion styles. Baboucar brings passion and authenticity for inspiring partnerships.
Some Happy Students
Collaborations
Baboucar’s music thrives in collaboration. Rooted in the rich traditions of Bougarabou yet open to exploration, his work bridges cultures, styles, and sounds.
Below are examples of Baboucar collaborating with a diverse range of musicians. If you’re interested in experimenting, creating, and connecting through rhythm, get in touch.
“Something often missing in Western understanding of drums is melody. We usually think of a drum set as sound -very often as noise - rather than as a source of musical expression.”
Tribute to Barcary Olé
Baboucar Diedhiou’s musical path is deeply shaped by his father, Bacary Olé, a revered drummer and cultural figure in Casamance. Bacary Olé was not only a master musician, but a guardian of tradition, community values, and ancestral knowledge. His playing embodied generosity, and the spiritual connection to rhythm in Diola culture.
Through Baboucar’s teaching, performances, and collaborations, the rhythms of his father continue to live, travel, and inspire new generations — honoring the past while shaping the future.
More Than Music
Bougarabou is not a performance alone — it is a ritual of gratitude, connection, and love. Each drum carries life within it. Made from the trunk of a tree and the hide of a cow, the bougarabou is born from two living beings which represent the cry of the forest in Casamance.
Rooted in Diola culture in Casamance, the southern-most part of Senegal, bougarabou is more than a drum — it is a language that speaks directly to the heart. This powerful drumming tradition has long accompanied ceremonies, storytelling, healing, and community gatherings, connecting older and younger generations.
Before playing, the drums are gently warmed around an open fire, a moment where time seems to stand still. Heating the skins is both practical and ceremonial — awakening the drum, bringing it into balance with the environment, and inviting its voice to open.
“Bougarabou classes with Baboucar are so much better than any expectation can be. I would recommend it 100%.”
Joshua Weis, Germany
