In 1978, N'Dour would follow as several members of the Star Band left to form Étoile de Dakar, a band that made important contributions to Senegal's newly evolving musical style called Mbalax, a style incorporating traditional Senegalese music into the Latin styles that were popular. Although they quickly became one of the city's most popular bands, the group was short-lived due to internal problems. Étoile de Dakar split into two groups: Étoile 2000 and Super Étoile de Dakar. Youssou N'Dour and other members including Jimi Mbaye on guitar, bassist Habib Faye, and tama (talking drum) player Assane Thiam formed Super Étoile de Dakar which produced four albums on cassette in just a few months and eventually evolved into N'Dour's backing band.