Star Number One de Dakar was a Dakar based band formed in 1959/early 1960 as Star Band by Ibra Kassé to play at his Miama night club on the occasion of Senegal's independence day on 3. Aug. 1960.

"One of the first musicians working for Kassé was Mady Konaté, a sax player; he played together with some other musicians in an orchestra called Le Tropical Jazz. Then the horn players Dexter Johnson and Bob Armstrong as well as Mbaye Mabusso and guitar player José Ramos joined in. When this band had played for some time they called themselves Star Band de Dakar." (Panzacchi 1997, p. 49/50)

The group played Cuban and Latin covers, but developed during the 1960s and 1970s towards an "Africanisation" described by Broughton et. al. (1999, p. 620): "Cuban songs were adapted into Wolof, and traditional - principally Wolof and Mandinka - songs and rhythms were introduced along with the tama - a high-pitched talking drum." Responsible for this development was Kassé who introduced singer Moor Cissé, also called "Biram Yacine Boubou", into the band. The musicians of the Star Band - mostly no Senegalese people - were not convinced of the decision made by their boss. (Panzacchi, 1997, p. 51)
Ca. 1964 Laba Sosseh became singer of the Star Band, but left after a year together with Dexter Johnson to go to Abidjan where they formed a band called Super Star together with guitar player Sidata. Johnson created another club in Dakar called "Étoile".

More groups emerged from Kassé's Star Band or his club: around 1963 the Star Number One who became Orchestre Number One and Number One de Dakar, in the 1970s Orchestra Baobab and, when the Star Band went on with a new and younger singer, Youssou N'Dour, they gave birth to the most successful musical career in Senegal to date. N'Dour left after two years: In 1977 he formed together with the rhythm section of the Star Band his own ochestra, Étoile de Dakar. But this is another story. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.