Journal Friday, January 09, 2009

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 World Café, from NPR station WXPN in Philadelphia. The show includes band member interviews and live performances from the group. You can listen online now at npr.org, which offers this description of the band's formative years:

In the 1970s, the musical environment of Senegal was ready for a revolution. Orchestra Baobab delivered. Combining a variety of established popular styles from Casamance, Ghana, Congo, and Cuba, the legendary Afropop group shaped the region's style with an Africanized sound of indigenous instruments and language. The result was a gorgeous, unique mix of harmonies, guitar, saxophone, bass, and drums which started a musical renaissance.

World Café host David Dye offers his own introduction at the start of the show:

Orchestra Baobab were the band in Dakar in the 1970s in Senegal, holding forth with a special blend of music that encapsulated the members varied influences. In 2001, recordings from that era became a worldwide hit when they were reissued. The band got back together and now their latest album, Made in Dakar, shows that they are as inventive as ever.

Learn more and listen at npr.org.

• Journal Topics:
• Radio

• Go to Orchestra Baobab's page

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