I have just returned from an amazing concert and reception for Senegalese Superstar Baaba Maal. It has been several years since we first met, and I went to speak with him about featuring him in a film I am putting together on Music and Social Transformation. It was an inspiring evening of music and beautiful time to hang back stage with the group and my friend Mark Johnson (Playing for Change), who is currently making a film with Baaba and his band about the music of Mali. Mark is also building a music school for the young people of Kirina – a village with a long and rich musical heritage. Baaba played for the village to help mark the occasion (see video below).
Baaba Maal has always brought great inspiration and important messages through his music, both to the people of Africa and about Africa to the world. He has been one of the most globally popular African artists in recent years, along with King Sunny Ade and Youssou NDour, and a great contributor to the popularization of African music in the West. Baaba studied traditional music with his blind guitarist and family griot, Mansour Seck, and began performing with the band Daande Lenol. Mansour has continued to travel and perform with Baaba throughout his career and brought his magical voice and presence to the show and event tonight. In his earlier records, Baaba drew from ragga, salsa and Breton harp music to create a popular sound that launched the careers of Positive Black Soul, a group of rappers, and also led to the formation of the Afro-Celt Sound System.
Tonight’s performance was in conjunction with UCLA’s Department of African studies 50th Anniversary. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate history and cultural studies than though the musical masters and messengers – those that carried the history in their songs and poetry long before it was written in books.
I am truly grateful for Baaba Maal’s inspiration and generous heart and look forward to working with him on the film and visiting his home in Senegal, where musical talent must come from the water.
