Youssou N'Dour

Travel teaches as much as books.

I look at my people, and I look at those who control them - the political elite. And the sad thing is that the elites are just not interested in the welfare of the people.

My father used to tell me about how musicians don't have respect from people and he was afraid about my future.

I respect music, I do. I love it.

I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.

I'm a modern Muslim. I pray, and if I have a question, I ask someone who is more educated in the religion than me.

Islam is a peaceful religion.

In politics, sometimes you have to lie, or you make a promise that you cannot keep.

Politics is politics art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

I think people should know more of Africa in terms of its joie de vivre, its feeling for life. In spite of the images that one knows about Africa - the economic poverty, the corruption - there's a joy to living and a happiness in community, living together, in community life, which may be missing here in America.

In the West, you have always associated the Islamic faith 100 percent with Arab culture. This in itself is a fundamentalist attitude and it is mistaken.