Orchestra Baobab - Biography
By Nick Castro
Orchestra Baobab's roots can be stretched back to the late 60's when the various members were cutting their teeth in local orchestras around Dakar before they formed together, the band that would forever represent some of the most sophisticated music of West Africa. They began as the Star Band de Dakar, playing at the Miami Nightclub, in Dakar, Senegal, at the turn of the decade, influenced by the sounds coming over the waters from Cuba. One of the founding members of the Star Band, Ibra Kasse, had started the band as a celebration of Senegal's recently won independence as well as a call to arms for rising young musicians in Senegal. Kasse was said to encourage and nurture the talents and traditions of the budding players. The Star band would incorporate not only indigenous languages but instruments as well, such as the talking drum. Later Star Band de Dakar would evolve into Etoile De Dakar, who were famous for spawning the talents of Youssou N'Dour.
In 1970, a group of businessmen and government officials put their resources together to form the Baobab club, from which the band took their name. The Baobab club became the finest establishment in Dakar. The club hired Baro Ndiaye from the Star Band and soon he was recruiting members for the Orchestra Baobab.
The various disparate backgrounds of the Orchestra Baobab's members contributed to their unique sound, as did the high demands of the establishment in which they were playing. Though most of the members were Senegalese, there were members who were also coming from backgrounds of Zairean guitar music and Ghanaian high life music. Some of the members even came from as far as Morocco and Mali as well. This can be heard in the guitars of the Baobab, which sometimes seem to reinterpret the guitar stylings of players like Dr. Nico. Baobab developed a sound that was a perfect marriage of Cuban and African music, and served a great example of reverse diffusion and cross pollination of the two cultures. Outside of the club, the band was beginning to get high profile society gigs, such as playing at the wedding of Pierre Cardin's daughter's wedding and the Miss Senegal Pageant. They recorded a series of albums during the 70's, for the Club Baobab owned label. in 1975 they released the album Guy Gu Rey Gi (1975 - Disques Buur). This was also the same year that a crucial member, Laye Mboup, was in a car accident that took his life. Mboup would often sing lead in the group and was a big part of the band's charm. His position was filled by Thione Seck, who would go on to become one of Senegal's most famous musicians.
In 1978 they released a series of LPs including the album Une Nuit Aun Jandeer (1978 - Musicafrique). The next year the club Baobab closed its doors and Orchestra Baobab had to find work elsewhere. They had been establishing connections in Europe and would be working in France. It was there that they recorded two of, what are widely considered their finest works of the era, albums called Baobab A Paris Vol. 1 On Verra Ca (1978 - Abou Ledoux) and Baobab A Paris Vol. 2: Africa 78 (1978 - Abou Ledoux). Their smooth style and infectious rhythms were not succeeding for them abroad and it seemed that they were not going to have a second career outside of their native Senegal. They returned to Dakar and soon got a job working for the club Ngalam. This proved to be a wiser choice for them and the club was soon selling out shows of Baobab performances. Many of their fans feel that their strongest works were being produced at this time in their career. Their 1982 album Ken Dou Werente (1982 - MCA), is a fine example of their sound during this time.
Just when it was seeming that Orchestra Baobab was going to have a resurgence in their home country they had a new obstacle to deal with; mbalax music. Led by musicians like Etoile de Dakar, comprised of former Star Band members, and Raam Daan, which featured the formed Baobab singer, Thione Seck. The youth of the country were hooked on this new sound and Baobab's popularity began to wane. Baobab has attributed much of this change to the growing cities, which were attracting people from the villages, who could not dance to salsa music so they chose the new emerging rhythms, which were often less sophisticated and much easier to dance to. Orchestra Baobab could have followed suit but the players in the band proved to be purists at heart and chose to disband rather than change their style for the sake of popularity.
Recent years have seen reissues of many of Orchestra Baobab's finest works, including the posthumously released Pirate's Choice (2002 - World Circuit), which was a recording of their 1982 sessions. This session shows the group in top form, though the sound quality may leave something to be desired, the mellow mood the band is in and the beautiful harmonies they display leave the listener enchanted. Many longtime fans have been dismayed by the popularity of this work over other releases, stating that the band's more frenetic works are superior. Nonetheless the rerelease of this album opened the band up to many new audiences who appreciated its subdued vibe.
World Circuit also rereleased the Orchestra Baobab album, On Verra Ca (1992 - World Circuit), which was a delight for many of their fans who could not find the increasingly rare LPs, although the CD release featured some rather unfortunate redone artwork. Two other CDs, released recently by the band, are Roots and Fruits (1999 - P.A.M.) and Specialist in All Styles (2002 - nonesuch), which found the band reunited to record an album which featured the band's longtime hero, Cuban musician Ibrahim Ferrer, now famous in the united States to due his association with the Buena Vista Social Club project.
Orchestra Baobab can also be found in a documentary made by American musicians Trey Anastasio and Dave Matthews, about the westerners trip to Africa, where they play music with Baobab.
