By Selean Holmes
The Harriet Group-African American
History, Art & Culture Consulting
As ticket sales are expected to reach 2.4 billion for Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour, there is a Cincinnati connection to this success. Saliou Diagne whose artist name is Sal Dali, is being recognized for his creative talent in the category of best dance and electronic album. Now he is among the many Cincinnatians who left town and made it big, like movie mogul Steven Spielberg, Actor Sarah Jessica Parker, and music icons like Bootsy Collins, L.A. Reid, and the Isley Brothers, just to name a few.
Two time Grammy nominated music producer/composer/recording engineer Saliou Diagne aka Sal Dali is one of the composer/songwriters on two of Beyonce’s “Renaissance” tracks, “Alien Superstar” and “Summer Renaissance”. In 2021, the NAACP Image Awards honored Rapper Black Thought’s album, Sal was one of the producers of “Streams of Thought Volume 3 on that album. He has garnered experience collaborating with artists such as Beyoncé, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, Pusha T, Killer Mike, Black Thought, Hi-Tek, Joey BadA$$ and Young Guru. His contributions to Beyonce’s “Renaissance” album led to a Grammy win for Best Dance/Electronic album and a Grammy nomination for album of the year. His production work has been featured on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan,” “Sistas,” “Opposition with Jordan Klepper,” CBS’s “Unicorn,” HBO’s “Southside” and ESPN’s NFL Draft amongst others.
Nurtured by a loving family, the 6-foot-9-inches, mild-mannered 40-year-old grew up in North Avondale and attended Wittenberg and the University of Cincinnati. His father, Babacar Diagne (pronounced Jyne) played guitar in a band as a teen growing up in Senegal, West Africa. Babacar came to the Queen City and graduated from Xavier University with a B.S. in Information Systems in the 1970’s. Now retired, he built a career in the banking industry as a Software Engineer and Senior MIS Treasury Management Systems Officer. He met the love of his life Michelle Gibson while in college, she’s an Attorney. Dali’s sister Amima is Associate Director of International Student Services at the University of Chicago. His supportive upbringing provided the discipline needed for the rigors of the music industry.
As Black Music Month ends, The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame honored Dali as a Top Music Influencer at a recent luncheon. He returned to his Los Angeles home where he owns the production company Stable Genius Group. “There’s nothing like receiving hometown love and inspiration,” said Dali. He remains humble and grateful.