Jill Turner switches on the Television and reviews Baaba Maal's latest album. Baaba Maal is a traveller not only with his United Nations work but as a season ticket holder onboard the Africa Express. He stole the show with a sensational appearance as part of this year’s UK African Soul Rebels tour and was recently invited as a guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in March. By now, we were beside ourselves with anticipation of his new album, it’s been a long time, eight years in fact since Missing You. Yes we have been, but now the new album is here, will Television
Listening to the opening track, my jaw dropped. Its not to dissimilar to Damon Albarn’s Sabali for Amadou and Mariam but with a bit more swing, depth and poppy Royksoppian punctuation. What’s happening Baaba ? It seems, on first listening, that his beautiful voice is being smothered in electronic tinkerings and boom chinger repetitions, leaving little space for his trademark vocals.. And what’s this ? Drum and bass with a sampled blues guitar to give it an edge……hold on!
Yes, hold on, remember how much you enjoyed his rendition of Dakar Moon with its tango lilt and guitar work, played live as an African Soul Rebel. Some people have said that since Kounding Cissoko died, Baaba has been struggling to find a song writing partner of equal calibre but does that necessarily mean he has to stay in the same mould ?
Africa Express .....has had an obvious influence even perhaps generating a desire to stay on board
Baaba’s journey on board the Africa Express offered the opportunity to "mix it up" with some of the leading UK Indie acts and this has had an obvious influence even perhaps generating a desire to stay on board to complete the journey on his own. This time steering a course to the New York studio of producer Barry Reynolds, who has worked with Marianne Faithful, Grace Jones and suggested that Baaba approaches electronica specialists, Sabina Sciubba and Didi Gutman, who together form the Brazilian Girls.
Baaba is back and just as life is changing at home in Africa with the rise of the omnipresent Television, so the singer is moving with the times. Here the melodies are westernised but Baaba is still giving advice through his lyrics and delivering them in an African way. His soulful and heartfelt deliveries are still there in amongst the catchy westernised melodies of Miracle and the nonchalant whistling on Cantaloupe. A Song for Women develops some of the chords first heard in Tindo and draws them out into a long trancy sexy number with plenty of talking drum accompaniment before moving onto International which has Sabina chanting destinations not unlike the opening of Madonna’s hit ‘Vogue’. The album finishes with Baaba and his guitar, making music the old fashioned way.
Okay there aren’t the familiar rolling rhythms and soaring vocals but that was nearly ten years ago. If you take the music as it is intended, to advise and entertain, this album’s a hit, its certainly not been out of the cd tray at GondwanaTowers. It’s a great crossover album that has every chance of giving Miranda Sawyer and Girls Aloud a run for their money in the pop charts and could hopefully bring a whole new audience to African roots music.
