Habib Faye (November 22, 1965 – April 25, 2018)[1][2] was a bassist, keyboardist, guitar soloist, arranger, composer and Grammy-nominated producer from Senegal.
He was believed to have picked up the bass when he was 13, but started his musical exploration at the age of nine, thanks to his older brother, Vieux Mac Faye, who is an accomplished guitarist himself.
Habib Faye cites the Amnesty International's "Human Rights Now" world tour in 1988 as maybe his most rewarding time as a musician.
He says that it allowed him to grow as a bassist as he got to share the stage with music icons, such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman, and Bruce Springsteen.
Habib Faye's resume also includes playing alongside a wide range of artists like Manu Katche, Mokhtar Samba, Joe Zawinul, Paco Sery, Gilberto Gil, Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, Branford Marsalis, Poogie Bell, David Sancious, Lionel Loueke, Tania St Val, Jacob Devarieux, David Sanborn, Brazil's Carlinhos Brown, just to name a few.
In Senegal, Faye was regarded as a true genius as he had taken the bass to a completely new level in this West African nation.
In addition to having years of gigging under his belt, producing and touring with Super Étoile, he has been involved in many musical projects in Senegal, working with local artists.
African music being very percussion-oriented, Habib developed a technique where he can often be heard playing percussion parts on his bass.
His brand of Mbalax that can be heard in most Youssou N’Dour albums, especially those released on the Senegalese market, puts percussive bass playing to the fore.
You can hear him on the album revisit some of Jaco's best known lines during his Weather Report years, adding an African twist to it.
In March 2008, Faye continued his jazz experiments when he brought Lionel Loueke, Herbie Hancock’s guitar player, and Mokhtar Samba, one of Africa’s premier drummers, to Dakar for a series of Afro-jazz concerts.
This forced Youssou Ndour to cancel his concert in Kigali to fly back home with the rest of the Super Etoile in order to pay tribute to their fallen brother.