Baaba Maal was born in Podor, a town with a population of 6,000, on the banks of the river Senegal that separates the country of the same name from Mauritania. Baaba’s family is Hal Pulaar, known in the English-speaking world as Fulani. He is not from a jeli family (the hereditary caste of musicians and oral historians).
Music was an integral part of Baaba Maal’s’s childhood. His father worked in the fields but was also given the honor and responsibility of using songs to call the worshipers to the mosque. Baaba’s mother was a musician who sang and wrote her own songs, educating her son in the musical forms of the area and encouraging the young Baaba to value intelligent and thoughtful lyrics.
At the same time Baaba was listening to black music coming out of the United States of America, people like James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Etta James. Later he caught up with Jamaican musicians such as Toots Hibbert, Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff who Baaba later met on a tour of Senegal in the mid-70’s along with band guitarist of the time, Ernest Ranglin.
Baaba went to school in St. Louis, the original French colonial capital and, on winning an Art scholarship, on to Senegal’s modern capital, Dakar. There he joined Asly Fouta a group of 70 musicians and spent his time with the group learning as much as he could about the local musical instruments and how they work.
After leaving college, he toured West Africa with longtime friend, guitarist and jeli, Mansour Seck, soaking up more knowledge, “it’s traditional for young musicians to do that. When you arrive in every village, you do a gig. This makes you friendly with all the young people who are in the village. The next day the young people take you to visit the oldest person who knows about the history of the village and the country and about the history of the music”. From there Baaba lived in Paris for several years, studying at the Fine Arts Conservatory, with ears still wide open. On arriving back in Senegal, Baaba formed his band Daande Lenol (Voice of the People).
On his CD, Missing You….Mi Yeewnii, Baaba Maal focused on the acoustic, poetic side of his heritage. The original recording sessions for “Missing You used a mobile studio based in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, and took place outdoors after dark, which accounts for the clicking of crickets which can heard throughout the album. The recording continued at Real World Studios in Wiltshire, and the album was mixed at Abbey Road and Real World.
With a dozen solo and collaborative albums behind him, Baaba Maal is a man with a mission beyond his music. In his role as Youth Emissary for the United Nations’ Development Program, Baaba Maal is committed to the concerns of families, young people and the future of his continent. When he tours the world, his role as a representative of the United Nations’ Development Program is never far away. Both elements come together when Baaba features in musical projects such as the Fela Kuti Tribute Red Hot and Riot , put together by HIV/Aids awareness campaign group The Red Hot Organisation.
In February 2005 Baaba was the special guest speaker for a lecture at the British Museum where he gave his views on Africa, speaking passionately and eloquently of the continent’s strengths and its challenges. On April 1st 2005 he sold out a special performance at the UK’s Royal Festival Hall. He was then invited to headline Glastonbury’s Jazz World Stage on June 25th and also to lead a show of solidarity with the Make Poverty History Campaign with Bob Geldof. On July 2nd Baaba made a speech in support of Make Poverty History in Edinburgh, and addressed the rally in advance of the G8 Summit at Gleneagles.
By now an honorary griot, Baaba said, “It strengthens my determination to work harder to contribute more to improving the living conditions of disadvantaged people of the African continent, especially young people, whose future is seriously threatened by illiteracy, poverty and HIV/AIDS. When I am talking about Africa, it is about how Africa will grow into the new millennium.”
In 2009, Baaba Maal released the multilingual album, Television. A subtle blend of electronic dance elements with timeless West African musical traditions, Television was recorded in London and Dakar over three years, during which time Baaba kept up his rigorous international touring commitments, including his work on the large-scale Africa Express project, in collaboration with Damon Albarn.
Baaba Maal worked on Television’s eight songs with various musicians, but most specifically in a collaboration with singer Sabina Sciubba and keyboardist Didi Gutman, both members of New York’s Brazilian Girls.
Baaba Maal released his 11th album ‘The Traveller’ (Marathon Artists) on January 15th, 2016. ‘The Traveller’ was recorded in both London and Senegal and was produced by Johan Hugo from The Very Best. The record includes Winston Marshall of Mumford & Sons, who met Baaba Maal at his annual music festival ‘Blues Du Fleuve’ in Fouta, Northern Senegal. PRESS HERE to watch some of The ‘Blues Du Fleuve’ Festival.
The album is a mix of African roots and more contemporary electronic influences intertwined at varying tempos, and carrying different messages for the listener. Baaba said: “Working with Johan, I feel we have achieved a new mix of sensibilities and sounds that can’t be put in a box. The Traveller defines how I feel about the planet, that despite its many problems, there is a lot of inspiration, and hope and beauty.”
Baaba Maal worked with soundtrack composer Ludwig Goransson, helping develop the Black Panther films’ exhilarating musical soundscapes.
In December 2022, Baaba announced the release of a new album in 2023: Baaba Maal to Release New Album ‘Being’ in 2023.
‘Being’ fuses traditional African instruments and rhythms with a dramatically modern electronic
approach. It’s a set of confrontational and contemplative stories where Maal mixes evocative, personal
local concerns with grand universal themes to produce a form of deep, immersive soul music,
taking the listener to new places through his birthplace of Podor, Senegal, where his music always begins, and his travels always end.
“However far I travel, whatever direction, I will always return home,” Baaba said. “It is the nomadic
nature. To wander, but to return home, eventually. Home is where you start from, where you begin to learn what really matters, and home is where you finish. Podor is the perfect place for me when I need some time to think, to see my music with a fresh eye, to surprise it, snare it, catch it unawares as if coming
across it for the first time.”
Discography:
Passion – Sources (Real World Records, 1989)
Djam Leelii, with Mansour Seck (Mango Records, 1989)
Baayo, with Mansour Seck (Mango Records, 1991)
Lam Toro (Mango Records, 1992)
Wango (Syllart, 1994)
Firin’ in Fouta (Mango Records, 1994)
Gorel (4th & Broadway, 1995)
Taara (Melodie, 1997)
Nomad Soul (Import, 1998)
Djam Leelii: The Adventurers (Yoff Productions, 1998)
Jombaajo (Sonodisc, 2000)
Missing You – Mi Yeewnii (Palm, 2001)
The Best of the Early Years, compilation (Wrasse, 2003)
Palm World Voices: Baaba Maal, compilation (Palm, 2005)
On The Road (Palm, 2008)
Television (Palm, 2009)
The Traveller (Palm / Marathon Artists, 2016)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.