Around 1974, Wasis met another Senegal musician from Guinea-Bissau, Umban Ukset. First they joined as a duo, then created a real group, West African Cosmos. Far earlier than what is now called world music, West African Cosmos combined western and African sounds into Afro-jazz. The group was on incessant tour throughout the world for many years, and brought out an album with CBS.

Wasis Diop left the group in 1979 to work alone, although he still gave a few concerts with them up to 1981. Most of this period, however, was devoted to travelling. He went to Japan where he met Yasuaki Shimizu, an avant-garde Japanese musician with whom he often worked in the years following. Most importantly, he stayed in Jamaica for eight months between 79 and 80, at a time when reggae was beginning to spread beyond the borders of Jamaica. A great friend of Cedella, Bob Marley's mother, Wasis also became friends with Jimmy Cliff. He even recorded an album in a strange, punk-reggae style, with Autocar. In 1980 he left the island to return to France.

In 1981, Wasis Diop sang in a duo with a Malagashi-French singer, Marie-France Anglade. The fruit of their association was the album "MFA Kera". Between 82 and 84, he made frequent trips to London, where he met the producer of Sade's songs, Robin Millar. He brought out a single under the WEA label.

1984 saw the start of a period of interest in films, during which he wrote a film script, which was never produced. In 1986 he returned to music, meeting Martin Meissonnier. At this time he began appearing in various compilations, produced by Radio Nova in France and by Shimizu in Japan.

By the end of the eighties, Wasis Diop was beginning to think of ending his career because of his lack of personal success. But in 1989, a number of events occurred to bring him back into the bosom of music for good. A new single in May 89, on the Dreyfus label, was one. Another was the album he recorded shortly afterwards in Japan, with Shimizu. A video clip and a tour in November confirmed his success in the Far East.

But the real trigger was Wasis' work for the Tunisian-born singer Amina, who, as the gossip pages tell us was Martin Meissonier's partner. She brought out an album, Yalil, in 1989, with two tracks written by Wasis Diop. One was "Ma tisane bout", and the other, "Le dernier qui a parlé", was a huge hit and even got Amina to the Eurovision Song Contest, where she took second place in May 1991.

This success allowed Diop to take his time working on his own solo production. In 1990 he worked on the Frenchman Pierre Schott's album, again with Robin Millar.

The long-awaited first solo album came out in 1992. IN fact it was film music, but it was so individual that it was considered as a solo album. Moreover, the director of the film, "Hyènes", was none other than his own brother, Djibril Diop Mambety. The two brothers are very close, and the album is the result of artistic as much as fraternal symbiosis. The delicate talent of Wasis Diop is to be found here, as well as his sense of cultural synthesis. Flamenco and Celtic bagpipes are as at home on this record as the traditional Kora and the guttural sounds of the Wolof language, echoed in the singer's deep voice. This work was celebrated by the critics and brought Wasis Diop a degree of public recognition.

His success was confirmed with a second album which, for the first time, was 100% Wasis Diop. This CD, called "No Sant" (What is my name?) was produced with his friend Yasuaki Shimizu. The Celtic influence of "Hyènes" was noticeable too. It included musicians such as the Congo (ex-Zaire) Lokua Kanza and the young French singing Ghanean, Lena Fiagbe, who accompanied Wasis in "African Dream" and "No Sant". The latter was somewhat of a hit internationally.

In June 1995, Wasis gave a concert at the Petit Journal Montparnasse theater, in Paris, before doing the first half of South African Johnny Clegg's concert. The following year he went on tour with an acoustical band. They did a concert at the Théâtre Gérard-Philipe, in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, in December 1996.

He was back in Senegal in May 1997, for the Saint Louis jazz festival.

Now viewed as one of the major international artists from Africa, Wasis Diop brought out his third album in autumn 1998. This, called "Toxu", has a very synthetic sound, contributed by Bénin musician Wally Badarou. The tone is very western, and they have come a long way from "Hyènes", despite the duo from Mali, Amadou and Mariam. After Lena Fiagbe, it is the turn of the American Beth Hirsch (who also sang on the album by Air) to sing a duo with Wasis. The Senegalese star also recorded an interesting cover version of "Once in a Lifetime" (the famous Talking Heads classic).

Over the years Wasis Diop has come to write an increasing amount of film soundtracks and music for television, claiming that this genre gives him much more freedom of expression than the classic album format. Wasis Diop's involvement with the film world actually stretches back many years. Before launching a music career, he made his debut in the film world as an actor, starring in the film "Badou Boy" in 1970. This was one of the first films made by his director brother, Djibril Diop Mambéty. Wasis went on to put in occasional film appearances over the years, starring in Ben Diogaye Beye's film "Les princes noirs de Saint Germain des Prés" (1975), Mama Keita's "Le onzième commandement" (1998) and Myriam Mézières's "Fleurs de sang" (2002).

In 1992 Wasis composed the music for another of his brother's films, "Hyènes" (or "Ramatou", in its original Wolof title). The film went on to become an African cinema classic. Over the following years, Wasis found himself in great demand and, while continuing to compose musical accompaniment for films such as "TGV, la Petite vendeuse de soleil" (1998), "Ndeysaan-Le prix du pardon" (2002) and "Djogo-Les couilles de l'éléphant" (2002), he also wrote music for numerous television films and documentaries. Wasis Diop's song "Everything… Is Never Quite Enough" was used on the soundtrack of John McTiernan's remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" in 1999, which brought him to the attention of American audiences.

In March 2004 the MK2 cinema in the "Grande Bibliothèque de Paris" decided to honour the African star, inviting him to play the soundtrack to "Hyènes" live in front of an audience. MK2 also set up interactive listening posts at the Cannes Film Festival, broadcasting Wasis Diop's music to the general public together with the work of other great film composers such as Lalo Schifrin, Joe Hisaishi and Maurice Jarre. Wasis also composed the music for As Thiam's short "Le Sifflet" which was also presented at Cannes (and other major film festivals).

2004 proved to be an productive year for Wasis Diop's involvement with the film world. For he managed to find time to compose the soundtracks for two other feature films, Ben Diogaye Beye's "Amours d'enfants" and Sylvestre Amoussou's "Africa Paradise".

In 2005, Wasis Diop teamed up with a talented cast of African actors, directors, producers, musicians and composers - including Zé Manel, Koulsy Lamko and Germaine Acogny - to create an African opera. Diop worked as musical and artistic director on "Bintou Were, l'Opéra du Sahel" which premièred in the Malian capital, Bamako, in February 2007. In October of that year, the opera was staged at the prestigious Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris.

After a lengthy absence on the recording front, Wasis Diop finally returned with a new album in May 2008. "Judu Bek" ("the joy of being alive") was a predominantly acoustic album which drew on Diop's rich musical palette and his childhood memories. The album included several distinctly personal touches such as "L'Ange Djibril", a reworking of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah", on which the singer paid tribute to his elder brother, Djibril Diop Mambety (who died in 1998). On softly-crooned tracks, sung in French and Wolof, Wasis Diop presented a thoroughly modern vision of African music. The album was mixed by Oz Fritz (renowned for his work with the gravel-voiced American star Tom Waits).

Shortly after the release of "Judu Bek", Wasis Diop hit the road again, performing a limited series of concerts in Europe.

August 2008