"There isn't likely to be a more buoyant or affirmative-sounding release this year than Made in Dakar by the legendary Orchestra Baobab," writes the New York Times music critic Nate Chinen of the forthcoming collection of classic tunes from the Senegalese group, due out next Tuesday and available now for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. He continues:
The beguiling guitar work of Barthélemy Attisso would be enough to recommend the album, were it not for a breezily amalgamated babble of grooves (high life, rumba, calypso, guajira) and dialects (Wolof, Malinké, Portuguese Creole).
An additional highlight Chinen points to is the song "Nijaay," "a reinvigorated classic" that features a guest vocal from Youssou N'Dour. Read the review at nytimes.com.
You can listen to "Nijaay" now at Pitchfork, which is streaming the tune through imeem. Pitchfork's Drew F. Hinshaw says that "the enduring international popularity of the band and their Spanish-speaking cousins in the Buena Vista Social Club" shows that the combination of cross-cultural, Afro-Cuban sounds in which both bands excel, "just works."
Hinshaw writes of the updated version of "Nijaay" recorded for Made in Dakar:
No matter what corner of the Afro-Cuban continent you hail from, there's something to dig, be it Nigerian saxophonist Peter Udo's Coltrane impression, the swirling guitar runs spilling out of Togolese Barthelemy Attisso, or the vocal contributions of Youssou N'Dour. The conga flutters even tell an interesting story, about ocean crossings and musical adaptations.
To listen, visit pitchforkmedia.com.
Click here to pre-order Orchestra Baobab's Made in Dakar CD now for $16 and download the album MP3s, including the exclusive Nonesuch Store bonus track, "Mamadou," on release day, May 20.
