When a new nightclub opened in Dakar, Senegal in 1970, its owners had prudence in naming the spot Baobab Club, after one of the world’s longest living trees. Members of the country’s famous Star Band broke off and settled in as the new club’s house band, and much like their namesake, Orchestra Baobab has enjoyed a similar longevity, now nearing the half-century mark. Percussionists Balla Sidibe and Mountaga Koite, bassist Charlie Ndiaye, and saxophonist Issa Cissoko have kept the core of the group intact ever since. (Though the group disbanded from 1987-2001 and only reunited at the instance of fellow Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour and World Circuit producer Nick Gold.)
Masters of Senegalese pop and mbalax, Cuban rhumbas, American jazz, and more during their heyday, their return in the 21st century was a welcome one. They were lauded as heroes, having the likes of Youssou N’Dour and Buena Vista All-Stars’ Ibrahim Ferrer lend their voices to the group’s comeback album—not to mention Dave Matthews and Trey Anastasio making a documentary about their pilgrimage to Africa to jam with them. Ten years after their last album, 2007’s Made in Dakar, Baobab returns with a tribute to the group’s longtime griot Ndiouga Dieng, who passed away late last year.
Opener “Foulo” shows the legendary group’s prowess in a manner that sounds effortless and unfussy. A rhumba beat gets bolstered with horn lines that gently lilt upwards and then corkscrew down with purpose, thanks to the two saxophones of Cissoko and Thierno Koite. Amid the group’s longtime movements, newly added kora player Abdouleye Cissoko nimbly matches the group’s balance, being buoyant and rhythmically durable at once. His kora—brought in to occupy the space left by guitarist Barthelemy Attisso, who is now a lawyer in Togo—then takes the lead on “Fayinkounko,” dovetailing with the timbales and bright guitar lines. On “Alekouma,” the kora opens with a blinding run, before slowing to provide a gentle shimmer to a ballad about fallen warriors, the lines a poetic nod to the passing of Dieng.
In 1979, potent Baobab vocalist Thione Seck left the fold of the group for superstardom of his own. Some 35 years later, Seck rejoins his old bandmates here, lending his telltale growl and plea to the slinking groove of “Sey.” In just a few reverberant notes, Benin guitarist Rene Sowatche (another new addition to the group) finds enough wiggle room amid the percussion and brass to suggest vast cosmic space.
Deep into their career, Dieng at times reveals the advanced stage of its players. The songs are taken a step slower, the rhumbas show a consideration for the pulse as well as the spaces between them, and the themes in some manner or another touch upon mortality. The easeful meter of “Caravana” gets punctuated by Balla Sidibe’s mournful lines, which are about an unmarried village woman whose death means a burial without ceremony in the bush. As the song draws towards its conclusion, Sidibe reminds us of a truth no matter our tongue or country: “Beauty cannot stop you dying/Success cannot stop you dying/Nobody knows their destiny/Death doesn't warn us.” But rather than wallow in such morass, it makes the rhythms of the group feel even airier in their joyful acceptance and defiance.
