Orchestra Baobab

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At The Poet's Corner in the Botanical Gardens - Womadelaide 2006 . Posted by "cdnoz".



Senegal's Orchestra Baobab 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.

. . . On 5 May 2001, a reformed Baobab performed in London at The Barbican Centre's Urban Beats festival. Though they hadn¹t 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. ( BBC )



"Nijaay" FMM Sines 2008, Portugal . Uploaded by " bunks07"


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