Baaba Maal

All Music Guide:

A superstar in his native Senegal, spiritual pop singer Baaba Maal was not even born to be a performer -- in West African culture, tradition dictates that the ancient griot caste must produce the singers and storytellers, and Maal was born in the city of Podor in 1953 into the fisherman's caste. Despite his parents' insistence that he become a lawyer, he grew up surrounded by music, absorbing both the traditional sounds of the region as well as American R&B and soul, later discovering jazz and blues. As a teen Maal moved to Dakar, joining the 70-piece orchestra Asly Fouta and teaming with his guitarist friend Mansour Seck to form the group Lasli Fouta; during the early '80s, the duo also spent several years in Paris, where they recorded the 1984 album Djam Leelii. Upon returning to Senegal, Maal formed the group Daande Lenol -- literally, "The Voice of the Race" -- and began honing a highly distinctive sound fusing traditional African music with elements of pop and reggae; in 1988 he issued the LP Wango, the first in a series of highly successful albums which also included 1991's Baayo, 1992's Lam Toro, and 1994's Firin' in Fouta. In 1998, Maal released Nomad Soul; the first recording on Chris Blackwell's new Palm Pictures label, it featured cameos by Brian Eno, Howie B., and others. Jombaajo appeared in 2000, followed by Missing You in 2001 and Television in 2009, all on Palm.

Wikipedia:

Baaba Maal (born 12 November 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. He is well known in Africa and internationally is probably Senegal's most famous musician after Youssou N'Dour. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July 2003, he was made a UNDP Youth Emissary.

Baaba sings primarily in Pulaar and is the foremost promoter of the traditions of the Pulaar-speaking peoples who live on either side of the Senegal River in the ancient Senegalese kingdom of Futa Tooro.

Early life and education [edit]

Baaba Maal was expected to follow his father and become a fisherman. However, under the influence of his lifelong friend and family griot, blind guitarist Mansour Seck, Baaba devoted himself to learning music from his mother and his school's headmaster. He went on to study music at the university in Dakar before leaving for postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Career [edit]

After returning from study in Paris, Baaba studied traditional music with Mansour Seck and began performing with the band Daande Lenol. Baaba's fusions continued into the next decade with his Firin' in Fouta (1994) album, which used ragga, salsa and Breton harp music to create a popular sound that launched the careers of Positive Black Soul, a group of rappers, and also led to the formation of the Afro-Celt Sound System. His fusion tendencies continued on 1998's Nomad Soul, which featured Brian Eno as one of seven producers. In addition to his various solo releases, he was featured on two tracks, "Bushes" and "Dunya Salam", on the concept album 1 Giant Leap.

In 1998, Baaba recorded "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" for the Red Hot Organization’s compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody a tribute to George Gershwin which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. In 2002, Baaba again worked with the Red Hot Organization, recording "No Agreement" alongside Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Positive Black Soul and Archie Shepp for the tribute album to Fela Kuti, Red Hot + Riot.

On 7 July 2007 Baaba performed at the South African leg of Live Earth.

Baaba Maal's album On The Road, a live acoustic album recorded straight from the mixing boards of his shows over a ten year period, was released on 10 August 2008. A new studio album, Television, was released on 1 June 2009.

He is featured on two tracks "Hunger" and "Still" on the Black Hawk Down soundtrack and performed on the title track of the 2008 video game Far Cry 2. He played at Bonnaroo and the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in 2010.

He is featured on a track on the Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly album All of This Yours.

Baaba Maal sang the track for Kerala Tourism's 2010 ad campaign "Your moment is waiting" with music composed by One Giant Leap.

On 4 May 2013. Baaba Maal also performed at the 2013 edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Harare, Zimbabwe.