Abu Fatah Seck, or Faada Freddy, and I had a brief conversation before he went into his sound check at the Arizona gig last week. Daara J are performing Wednesday, July 27, 8 p.m., at the Fillmore Auditorium, 1805 Geary St., in San Francisco. They open for Femi Kuti.

Wanda Sabir: I just love your album "Boomerang!": the idea of the boomerang, Africans in the Americas repatriating the continent with culture, what goes around comes around literally, those who left so long ago returning in song. "Tasso" is a form of rap or poetry passed from father to son. Is this how the members in Daara J got their start?

Faada Freddy: "No, not really. We're not griots. In the griot families I know from Senegal and Mali, this happens; that's why it was so difficult in the beginning until we got the confirmation from our parents to do that music. As we weren't griot families, initially our parents didn't agree with our choice. Only the griots do music in our country.

"Nowadays the mentality is changing."

Wanda Sabir: So you're breaking tradition?

Fadda Freddy: "Yes."

Wanda Sabir: So, how did you happen to begin telling stories with your music?

Fadda Freddy: "We met in a club in Dakar - a club called the Metro Police. We didn't meet at the same time. My friend Ndongo D (El Hadj Mansour Sagna) and I met Alhadji Man (Mamadou Lamine Seck), and that's where everything started in 1993."

The two MCs had been performing as the Lion Klan. When they hooked up with Alhadji Man, the three began performing as Daara J, which means "School of Life." "With every production," Alhadji Man says, "we want to give an education to our audience."

They are, of course, very popular at home; however, in response to a question about their popularity, Freddy responds: "I'll just say that we get respect at home where we started, and our people are backing us up."

Wanda Sabir: "Boomerang" features many artists, among them Rokia Traoré, who was here a couple of years ago. But this is not the only element which makes the album so amazing musically - Daara J's styles easily shift between the North African chants of a muadhin calling the faithful to prayer to the percussive sounds of Senegalese sabar drummers, as the three of you knit the African Diaspora together linguistically as you sing in three or four languages on one song. On "Esperanza," you swing in Spanish, shifting between French, Wolof. On other tracks you sing in English. It's both funky and mellow with (as the BBC said) "splashes of Spanish guitar, Cuban charanga and recurring reggae and R'nB-inspired diversions."

"How did you pull the album together? You have so many special guests and the music is so well done."

Faada Freddy: "(First) we wanted to have a female touch. Women play an important role in our country. We only have one other album with a girl from a griot family, called Kuku. This time we wanted to take it to the next level. The three of us fell in love with the voice of Rokia Traoré and asked her to drop something on the album. After many times we tried to set up a date with her, but she was always on tour, every time. It was very difficult. Then when we were (all) in Paris, her manager called us and told us that Rokia was available.

"She'd told us that she'd been listening to Daara J for a long time. Both of us have the same angle as artists, trying to spread the African music over the land. That's why she brought her sweet voice straight over to the studio where we were doing the mixing. It's quite beautiful when you hear her on the album. It really takes it to the next level.

"Other artists like China, Deedee Bridgewater's daughter, was like, 'Man, for a long time, you Daara J been coming on my stage and been doing something for me. This time I'm going to come and join you and do something. And she's been very nice. And it was just crazy because we love jazz and she's in it big time, and so we told her we'd like you to do something (and she did).

"Sergent Garcia is a Cuban artist. Our parents used listen to Cuban music and with (this cut) we wanted to give back certain respect to our elders - Garcia did the remix for 'Esperanza,' and I think he did it really beautifully.

"MC Disiz la Peste is Senegalese so there was no real problem to get him to play with us. On 'Paris Dakar' he knows about it. He knows we have a warm welcome in Senegal. He was a good witness to talk about (immigration)."

Wanda Sabir: The song with Rokia, did you write this song with her in mind?

Fadda Freddy: "We'd already done our part before she came, and when she came she listened to the music and she was like, 'I really feel that one,' and she dropped something straight. She was improvising. She dropped her voice straight; she didn't take time to write and all that."

Wanda Sabir: So she was freestyling. She made it up right there.

Faada Freddy: "Right."

Wanda Sabir: "Tell me about 'Exodus' - that's Marley, right? - why you put this on there, and 'Babylon' too of course.

Fadda Freddy: "Well, everyone knows that Africans are living in master's land: Europe, America, wherever else, because they believe that paradise is somewhere else and that Africa is not the place to make it. It's just a deception, a disillusion. Sometimes you can think that somewhere else is better and get trapped in the system. Sometimes you go back home and see that it's even better at home, but you fight to compare the Western countries to countries like Senegal.

"After you've gotten your experience or fortune, never forget where you're from. You've got to return home someday because you have family, and everyone is counting on you to make it better. Don't forget those who made you, you know. That's why we did that track 'Exodus.'"

Wanda Sabir: Does Daara J still live in Senegal, in Dakar?

Faada Freddy: "Yes, we live in Dakar, though a lot of people believe we live in France or somewhere else. We still live in Senegal. I don't believe there is anywhere better than Senegal."

Wanda Sabir: Tell me what's it's like there. We hear all these stories about how horrible it is there in Africa and how everyone is impoverished or dying from HIV and AIDS or being exploited by Western corporations. What's it like in the big city Dakar?

Faada Freddy: "Life is quite sweet, even though people don't always find something to eat. They have a big smile on their faces and it's not plastic, which shows that even though sometimes it's hard, whatever happens, people try to be strong for each other. It's that kind of behavior I'd like African people to share with the whole wide world.

"I've been (other) places where people don't have enough to eat, or can't provide for their needs, they just go into a very deep depression. In Senegal it's not like that. You always have some people around. Socially, we eat around the same bowl - we don't eat with separate plates - everybody gathers around the same bowl and have conversation."

Wanda Sabir: I read somewhere about Goree Island and the phenomena of rap music and hip hop culture. (A train blows its whistle in the back ground as we talk.) I found it interesting that Africans claim Africans in America and say hip hop culture is from Africa - was taken from Africa to the Americas - and is now going back.

Rokia's mentor, Ali Farka Toure, talks about Mali being the birth of the blues. It's like yeah, you can hear it, and Malians claim it, and now Senegalese claim rap. I want you to talk about this. I feel … I'm happy that we're being claimed because we are African. It's just, why now? Why not before?

Faada Freddy: "People have to know that Africa has played a most important role in history. Why? Before the biggest civilization that ever existed was the Egyptian civilization. The (philosophers), scientists and mathematicians all came to Egypt to be inspired, to learn then go back to Europe to build their societies.

"Then if you take a point like Goree Island, where Africans were taken on the slave ships to go over to America. It's a very important point. (These Africans) started building (that) country. The Indians were held in slavery, but they died too quickly. After that (Europeans) found out that Africans lived longer, so they took the Africans to build Western societies. People should not forget that.

"Africa is the mother that inspired the whole wide world, and people today are not giving back that respect for that land that gave birth to all civilizations. It's important as Africans to go here and there and remind people of that fact.

"That's why people have to know about Goree Island. People should be reminded of that history."

Wanda Sabir: How did you come into your consciousness? Senegal has many ethnic groups: Niominka, Bassari, Fulfulde, Serer, Jolu, Tukulor, Lebou, Moors, Bambara and of course Wolof. Did your parents raise you to see yourself in the context of the African Diaspora?

Faada Freddy: "In Senegal everyone speaks Wolof. We don't have ethnic group divisions. The Fulfulde marry the Wolof. Wolof marry Fulfulde. Christians marry Muslims. Muslims marry Christians."

Wanda Sabir: It's not like in Nigeria?

Fadda Freddy: "No. I believe that each one of us should try to know who he is. Each one of us should try to get a certain self-fulfillment. We have to know our own identity, and when we talk about identity for me, it's not about the race, the color or which ethnic group, stuff like that. It's just - okay, if you know yourself as a part of the nature, as a part of everything that exists - if you realize that, for me, you'll be more tolerant of other people. And then you won't be considering races and stuff like that. Your aim in life would be the truth and nothing else. For me all the trials that divide human beings, I think we have to banish them all. Anything dividing people should be banished."

Wanda Sabir: Lion Klan before you were Daara J or 'School of Life,' the ensemble doesn't subscribe to the negative aspects of hip hop culture, such as the denigration of women and singing about acquiring stuff just to have stuff.

Faada Freddy: "The top word today is 'bling bling.' I agree. We deal with bling bling - if only we can bling our soul and spirit to go bling-blinging our minds and spirits. I don't think developing materialist things will make things better for the human being."

Wanda Sabir: The three of you were raised Muslim. How does this affect the direction of your music?

Faada Freddy: "I always give my life over to tolerance. Even though we have a Muslim education … our Muslim education compared to what people are thinking about Islam is far different. In Senegal if you want to practice your religion, you practice it. If you don't want to practice it, everyone is free to practice their religion. I really believe that it is good to have that education. It taught us how to be tolerant and how to love one another and how to love our brothers. I think it was a beautiful education.

"(This education) depends on the society maybe. But in Senegal it was really beautiful, and I'd advise anyone to check out the education. It helps us develop peace of mind."

Wanda Sabir: What did the education entail - did you go to Qur'an school?

Faada Freddy: "Yes, I think this is where everything started. It was very helpful to us. The typical education shows you that you are nobody, to keep you humble. Sometimes they even send you begging, so you can get rid of your ego, and you can live with anybody else without problems because you live in very difficult positions. You're ready to just accept life. It helps the youth to develop a sixth sense.

"Africa is a very mystical land. Everyone doesn't know that. The Islamic school was really helpful."

Wanda Sabir: How old were you?

Faada Freddy: "Five, 6, 7. After you can read, you can be your own teacher. I believe that somehow the rest of the knowledge that you're going to acquire is going to depend on how you intend to learn and develop your spirituality. If you want to go further, you can and really meet God."

Wanda Sabir: "Did you go to university - the three of you?"

Faada Freddy: "Ndongo D and I went to a school that was specializing in accounting, and we stopped to play music and go on tour." (They've been touring ever since.)

Wanda Sabir: Tell me about the Femi Kuti tour.

Faada Freddy: "He just finished the sound check."

Wanda Sabir: "With regards to Femi and his dad Fela, philosophically and musically you are both on the same page. Can you talk about Femi and the tour and how the two genres or the two expressions of the music, connect?

Faada Freddy: "African music, you know, is really intense. The rhythm. When we listen to Femi's performance, it just reminds us of the sabar in our country. He has women dancers who remind us of the sisters in Senegal (dancing the sabar). Somehow we have the same culture. This gave us an idea: on the next album, we'd like to do some Afro-beat. We'd like to use Fela's drummer, Tony Allen. We've been so inspired by Femi."

Wanda Sabir: Do you all use any of the traditional instruments in your band?

Faada Freddy: "On stage, no. We sometimes use guitar. The traditional instruments we use as backing tracks."

Wanda Sabir: What about the kora. Oh, the kora is Mali. Do you have the kora in Senegal?

Faada Freddy: "Of course! I'm working with a group in Senegal. Every time we get to meet in a corner in a jazz place for a jam session, one of the best kora players in Senegal (is there). His name is Baba Tar."

The half-hour conversation draws to a close as Daara J get called in to do the sound check for that evening's performance in Arizona. I bid Freddy good-bye and look forward to the concert.

-Wanda Sabir