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Africa |
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Orchestra Baobab (Senegal)
Winners in the Africa and Critics Award categories
Song : Bull Ma Miin
Album : Specialist in all Styles (World Circuit, UK)
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More on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½i : | Album review
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Considering the tragic nature of most show business reunions, last year's magical return by one of Senegal's greatest bands ever is something all lovers of African music should give thanks for.
Named after the Dakar night club where they began performing in 1970, Orchestra Baobab became so popular locally that when their best known album was released on World Circuit in 1989, it was titled Pirates Choice, a reference to the enduring appeal it had for bootleggers. But unfortunately, they had broken up two years before the richly deserved international recognition which resulted from this and subsequent superb compilations like On Verra Ça(1992) and Bamba (1993).
One of the group's main strengths was its multi-ethnic nature, which gave their music so many flavours. There were several members from Senegal's culturally diverse Casamance region as well as musicians with backgrounds in Mali, Cape Verde, Togo, Guinea Bissau and Morocco. The varied styles of their five extraordinary singers gave their sound a strong link with tradition, but there was also more than a touch of reggae influence, which made for added accessibility. Most distinctive of all was their affectionate take on the mellow side of Cuban music  hugely popular in Senegal in the '60s and '70s.
But fashion never stands still, and by the early eighties Orchestra Baobab's laid back fusion had been eclipsed by the faster, more complex cross rhythms of the mbalax, style championed by Youssou N'Dour. Though Baobab also dabbled in mbalax there were many other stylistic forces at play in their music, as singer Rudy Gomis recalls: 'We couldn't agree which style to carry on in.'
After a triumphant comeback gig at London's Barbican Centre in May of last year, World Circuit whetted fans' appetites with an inspired CD re-issue of Pirates Choice. This not only featured alternate takes of the six tracks on the original vinyl version, but a whole extra disc of previously unreleased songs drawn from the same sessions, which only underlined the depth of their creativity.
The band then set about recording their first new album in fifteen years. The release of Specialist In All Styles in September 2002 showed Baobab's marvellous floaty grooves to be miraculously intact on mostly updated versions of their old hits, several of which were previously known only to their Senegalese fanbase.
'This first CD is to remind people that we can still play,' says Gomis. 'The next will have new styles and more guests.'
Jon Lusk 2002
Read your comments on Orchestra Baobab
More Senegalese music on Radio 3:
Mandinka drumming in London
Mbalax drumming in Liverpool
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