UK: BAABA MAAL PERFORMING IN CONCERT IN LONDON IS ONE OF SENEGAL'S MOST TALENTED MUSICIANS

Record ID: 391749

  • Title: UK: BAABA MAAL PERFORMING IN CONCERT IN LONDON IS ONE OF SENEGAL'S MOST TALENTED MUSICIANS
  • Date: 27th June 2001
  • Summary: BAABA MAAL PERFORMING IN CONCERT
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA7BLIFTVOKCEAR82AFSJGI5WU
  • Story Text: Baaba Maal is one of Senegal's most talented musicians.
    With a fusion of traditional African rhythms and contemporary grooves, Baaba Maal is fast attracting a huge Western following. His recent concert at London's Royal Festival Hall was sold out and demand is so high that the singer is coming back in autumn for another round of explosive funk and melodic tunes.
    Baaba Maal never fell into the trap of becoming just another Westernized African popstar. Whilst employing a whole range of contemporary tunes from Jazz to Cuban grooves, the Senegalese singer has always remained loyal to his African roots: "I have different styles of music. When I just want to bring something to the young generation, just to go to the clubs to dance or to feel the combination between different styles like Cuban music or African music or Reggae music or HipHop, we have a modern style and the young generation see themselves in this style of music. When I want to talk to people about more serious things, where the message is very important I use traditional instruments, I use a traditional style of music. I mix Western acoustic guitars with koras, things that at the first note people are just going to listen to the song, the message, the lyrics at the same time as they listen to the melodies."
    Baaba Maal hardly sings a word in English but that's no barrier for his Western fans. His messages about African culture and life can be understood regardless. At his recent sold-out concert in London, Baaba proved that when you can fuse tribal rhythms and contemporary grooves with such panache and passion, language really doesn't matter: "Since I was a child I was listening to traditional African music and then I listened to modern music coming from the United States or Europe. From that time I can see a connection between my traditional music and what I was hearing from rock 'n roll or funk or blues or jazz. I see myself inside of that and I believe in African music. I believe it's the same. People didn't find a way to make them happen together but when I listen to the traditional African music I can see this or that, Cuban melodies inside. It's not difficult for me to connect traditional African music with the modern music."
    Baaba's songs speak of social and political issues affecting Africa today. Those are topics that are important to him and he sees his music as a vehicle to communicate with his audiences. Baaba does not come from a 'griot' family, but as he says himself, what he does could be seen as the task of a griot: "I am sure I can call myself a modern griot because I'm using all the elements that the griots are using. I'm using the culture, the music, the dancing, I'm using also the fact that a musician is very popular in the society in Africa. You can be very popular but at the same time, like a griot you are part of your society. People come to you personally to talk to you about how they feel, what their hopes are, their problems, talking about agriculture, the family, the school, they talk to musicians about everything. Especially when you get to a certain level, people believe that you can bring help, that your ideas are important when they choose a way where to go."
    The only rival to Youssou N'Dour as West Africa's biggest international star, Baaba's charismatic presence and noble bearing make it difficult to take your eyes off him on stage, and when he launches himself into wild dance movements it's hard to remain seated and not participate: "African music has its originality. People can see the meaning I was talking about when we play live, they see the dancing, the faces, ... we come from a poor country, we have a lot of problems people say, but at the same time you see what really keeps Africa alive, you can see it in the music. So people come to our music to discover, they travel in one hour, two hours, they listen to a CD, they travel and try to recognize, to understand much better who are these Africans."
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