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Artist: Orchestra Baobab
Category: Listeners Award
There are many world music fans who got into Cuban sounds through listening
to West African artists. That's a reflection of the ongoing transatlantic
love affair between these two great musical hotspots. The band that
exemplifies this more than any other is Senegal's Orchestra Baobab.
They came together in 1970, taking their name from the Dakar night-club
where they were resident for most of the following decade. Baobab were
different because of their multi-ethnic membership which drew in musicians
from all over Senegal and even players from Togo and Nigeria. Consequently,
their music wasn't based in any one tradition. They sang mostly in Mandinka,
Portuguese Creole and Wolof, but also other local tongues, French and even
faltering Spanish. Mellow Cuban boleros and sones were favoured musical
templates as well as a bewildering array of adapted traditional tunes and
Senegalese styles.
Perhaps most distinctive was the flowing guitar of Barthelemy Attisso, whose
playing clearly helped them capture an international fan base. At home they
reigned supreme until the end of the 1970s, when popular tastes moved away
from Latin-influenced music in favour of the more hard edged and percussive
mbalax style championed by the young Youssou N'Dour and his band Etoile de
Dakar.
Abroad though, classic albums like On Verra 脟a, Pirates Choice and Bamba
gave them a cult status which endured long after their eventual
disintegration in 1987. World Circuit has just re-released alternate takes of the original Pirates Choice album together with a whole extra CD of songs
recorded in the same 1982 sessions.
On 5 May 2001, a reformed Baobab performed in London at The Barbican
Centre's Urban Beats festival. Though they hadn鹿t played together for more
than 15 years, fears that the old magic might have been lost were soon
banished as they ran through a sublime set of old favourites and fresh
material. The group has several new members, but the founding core of
Attisso plus singers Rudy Gomis and Balla Sidibe remains. In October they
were back for another performance and to continue recording a new album
which should include a guest spot from Youssou N'Dour.
Biography by Jon Lusk, November 2001
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