Track Listing
Click tracks with speaker icon to listen| 1.01 | Utrus Horas | 8:39 |
| 1.02 | Coumba | 7:42 |
| 1.03 | Ledi Ndieme M'Bodi | 8:54 |
| 1.04 | Werente Sergine | 6:44 |
| 1.05 | Ray M'Bele | 6:57 |
| 1.06 | Soldadi | 8:03 |
| 2.01 | Ngalam | 9:31 |
| 2.02 | Toumaranke | 6:58 |
| 2.03 | Foire Internationale | 7:41 |
| 2.04 | La Rebellion | 7:54 |
| 2.05 | Ndiaga Niaw | 7:42 |
| 2.06 | Balla Daffe | 7:18 |
News & Reviews
- Thursday, October 9, 2008
NPR's World Café: Orchestra Baobab's Latest Album "Shows They Are As Inventive As Ever"
Orchestra Baobab were the featured guests on yesterday's episode of NPR's World Café. The show includes band member interviews and live performances from the group. You can listen online now at npr.org, which says the band, in its early days, created "a gorgeous, unique mix of harmonies, guitar, saxophone, bass, and drums which started a musical renaissance." Host David Dye says they were "the band in Dakar in the 1970s" and attests that "now, their latest album, Made in Dakar, shows that they are as inventive as ever."
- Thursday, August 21, 2008
Paste: Orchestra Baobab's "Luminous New Album" Is "Effortlessly Groovy and Deliciously Mature"
Orchestra Baobab's most recent release, Made in Dakar, writes Paste magazine, is a "luminous new album that finds the group interpreting—with undiminished vitality—a mix of repertoire items and new tunes." The songs' "sound is effortlessly groovy and deliciously mature," says Paste, "the kind performed, as Baobab’s members do, with perfect vocal harmonies and coat-and-tie stage dignity," with the band's return to regular performances in Dakar giving the new album "an in-the-moment energy."
About this Album
World Circuit/Nonesuch Records is pleased to announce the first official domestic release of the groundbreaking Senegalese group Orchestra Baobab’s 1982 landmark album, Pirates Choice. The album is completely remastered and formatted to include a second disc of previously unavailable material. The group has also reunited for the first time in 15 years to record a new album produced by Youssou N’Dour and set for release next year on World Circuit/Nonesuch.
Formed in Dakar in 1970 by saxophonist Baro N’Diaye and bassist Sidathe Ly, Orchestra Baobab quickly became one of the world’s most innovative and important musical ensembles, captivating a global audience with its unprecedented fusion of African and Cuban styles. N’Diaye and Ly assembled an all-star cast of players from diverse musical backgrounds to perform weekly at the Baobab Club, an intimate meeting spot created by and for Senegalese government officials. Critics hailed the ensemble as the greatest group in Africa and Orchestra Baobab was soon playing nightly to sold-out crowds.
Pirates Choice is something of a holy grail of African music and an undisputed world music classic. The recent British re-release of the album was met with overwhelming critical acclaim. London’s Sunday Times describes the album as “a magical sliver of history,” The Evening Standard calls it “a masterpiece,” and the Observer calls it “a lost treasure from the golden age of African music.” While Orchestra Baobab’s initial lead vocalist, Laye M’Boup, had been killed in a 1975 car accident, many of the group’s founding members are represented on the album: singer Mapenda Seck, tenor saxophonist Issa Cissoko, and guitarist and arranger Barthelemy Attisso, among others.
The reissue of Pirates Choice is a 2-CD set, with the first disc containing music from the original release in Senegal (1982) and Europe (1987) and the second disc devoted to unreleased material. All twelve tracks have been re-mastered from the original session tapes.
Credits
MUSICIANS
Medoune Diallo, vocals
Ndiouga Dieng, vocals
Rudolphe Gomis, vocals
Mapenda Seck, vocals
Balla Sidibe, vocals, timbales
Barthelemy Attisso, guitar solo
Issa Cissoko, tenor sax
Papa Ba, guitar
Adama Sarr, guitar
Charly N’Diaye, bass
Mountaga Kouyate, percussion, tumba
PRODUCTION CREDITS
A World Circuit Presentation
Produced by Moussa Diallo in Senegal
Re-Mastered by John Hadden, Tom Leader, and Adam Skeaping
Design by Intro, London
Cover: Drissa Balo Wedding Party, 1967
