Senegal Baaba Maal Coumba Gowlo Ismael Lo Cheikh Lo HIP HOP

Meeting scheduled  7pm on the last of his five 'rest' days in Dakar, before a whirlwind tour in Japan and the summer festivals in Europe, a time we hoped he would have put his business day to bed - the business between countless meetings, recording a new album at his Jololi studios and mixing his sister Vivianne's new music video.

That morning in the local paper, I read an interview where the journalist visibly attacked Youssou, asking him whether he was a billionaire, questioning him on the mystery behind his wife (the mystery in that she is never seen), making suggestions about his relations with leading politicians and his involvement with the media. Youssou's answers were of course appropriately curt and illusive, which brought my attention to this fascinating conflict that exists around him in Senegal: a man so popular, so admired, a man who has contributed so extensively to culture in that country, yet criticised for his arrogance, disrespected for his selfishness and questioned about his success.

By 7pm his business was nowhere near done, by ten he was still in the studio, at midnight downtown for a meeting and by 3am still in the studio. I went over anyway to the rather extravagant Jololi studios - what used to be his private residence. It was an uncomfortably warm Senegalese morning infected by the continual buzz of mosquitoes and the incredible pace of the city life that went before it. With his brother and label manager Bouba by his side, he was a little irritable and visibly exhausted, but still taking calls, giving out instructions, doing business before bed.

I wanted to ask him about this contradiction I had perceived. I wanted to see if I could discover the personal Youssou, the man behind the business empire, the man who has created such a respected niche for African music in the Western market. We talked briefly on the situation of African musicians selling out, wanting to go abroad. 'C'est grave, c'est grave (it is serious) he said. We talked of Vivianne's successes - C'est bien, c'est bien (it is good) he said. He remained as unreceptive and uncommunicative as his earlier interview had suggested, partly to do with the hour, partly to do with the circumstances, but partly too I think to do with the man, his arrogance and his ambition.

"We have to work twice as hard as Europeans because we have not a lot to work from," he says. "We have to have the courage to really say things about politics about what people should be doing even the population has a great responsibility with education and how people should behave, how well people should work and how hard they should work."

"If you go back a little," says his brother Bouba - the manager of his record label Jololi, "Youssou started on the same level as everyone, where there wasn't much technically. From day one, people really got into what he was doing musically - so he always had a big career in Senegal and a big following, that made him really stay here. There is a great career here and it is a great place to live and get inspired the whole time. If an artist with that kind of name stays in a small place like here you have to ensure you have places to develop your career - studios you can work in and stuff like that. Youssou's career is here, it is a part of life in Senegal and around that we try and build new artists."

The first successful signing (other than Youssou) on Jololi was Cheikh Lo, a Kora award winner in '98 and international chart topper in the world music category the following year for his debut album. He has left Youssou's label - and when I asked him why, he made it very clear that the support and the promotion wasn't there - he never answered when I asked whether Youssou was more interested in self-promotion, but perhaps because that was rhetorical.

But, in Youssou's eyes it is not self-promotion, rather the birth of an empire. "I choose to invest in the press because it is closely related to my profession. "Everybody knows the media industry is not yet a money making industry. This is normal because it is one of the first enterprises in the Senegal media. It will be for tomorrow. I am a builder, like if computers become what they are today it is because Bill Gates believed in it. I vote for information on culture because this can get out the tyranny of the politics. Information about culture interests the public."