Orchestra Baobab, the Senegalese band known for its Afro-Cuban fusion, return Friday with “Made in Senegal,” their first album of new songs in nearly a decade.
The 12-track album is out on Strut Records and Madoky Music on LP, CD and digital formats, and was recorded entirely in Dakar. It follows 2017’s “Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng,” which honored a late founding vocalist.
About half of the 12 songs are new compositions, and the vast majority have not appeared on a previous Baobab album. “Tioro Bye Samba” reprises a Thione Seck tune, “Casamance” salutes the southern Senegalese region several band members come from, and “Baobab 50 Ans” marks the group’s half-century.
The opening track, “Ana Maria,” was written by the late Rudy Gomis, one of the musicians recruited from the Star Band when the Baobab Club opened in Dakar in 1970. Gomis died in 2022 at 75. Bandmate Wilfried Zinsou contributed “Gorgorlou,” a Wolof term for someone who works hard just to get by.
The nine-member band has been gradually refreshed by younger musicians, mostly in their 30s and 40s, who say they aim to keep Baobab’s core sound while adding a dash of their own flavor. Rhythm guitarist Yahya Fall, 76, said listeners can sense “something people haven’t really heard from the founders before.”
The band blends Wolof griot music, Congolese rumba, Senegalese mbalax and jazz through an Afro-Cuban filter. It ruled Dakar’s club scene and airwaves after it formed in 1970, went on hiatus, and re-emerged in the early 2000s to achieve international fame. Its 1987 breakup came as mbalax, led by Youssou N’Dour, took over Senegal’s dance floors. Its 2002 comeback album, “Specialist in All Styles,” earned a Grammy nomination.
The title recalls the band’s 2007 album “Made in Dakar.” Thierno Koité, the band’s saxophonist and bandleader, said, “We are like the tree we are named after.”
Zinsou, a trombonist and tenor saxophonist, said people view Senegal through the band, which carries Senegalese culture with it. At a Dakar nightclub days later, the veterans and newcomers showed the same easy chemistry, getting partygoers dancing cha-cha steps, AFP reported.
One early review, from Far Out magazine, said the album strikes a balance between the band’s heritage and its forward-thinking approach and sounds timeless.
The current line-up includes bandleader Thierno Koité on saxophone, lead vocalists Zacharia “Papino” Koité and Korka Dieng, drummer Taga Koité, percussionist Moussa Cissokho, bassist Malick Sy and guitarist René “Bolero” Sowatche, alongside Fall and Zinsou.
The album also includes “Sibo Odia,” “Togne Bakhoul,” “Ndiaga Niaw,” “Wida” and “Senegal,” among its tracks. The 12 tracks run about an hour. Strut, the London label, is also releasing a limited double LP.
