Baaba Maal - Senegal

Considered a superstar in his West African home country, Baaba Maal has wowed audiences from the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall to Glastonbury; and from performing at the Live Earth Concert in Johannesburg to creating the soundtrack for the Oscasr-winning Riodley Scott movie Black Hawk Down.

Baaba Maal was interested in music from a young age and studied in Senegal’s capital, Dakar where he spent his time learning about local musical instruments. He toured West Africa with longtime friend and renowned guitarist Mansour Seck, before studying in Paris and, on returning to Senegal, forming his band Daande Lenol (Voice of the People).

With and without his band, he has released 10 albums – beginning with 1988’s ’Wango’ and continuing through the 90’s and into the 21^st century. His latest album ‘Television’ was released in 2009. Baaba Maal regularly heads the bill at major music festivals and events around the world including the BBC Proms Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2005, Glastonbury, the Africa Remix Festival at London’s Royal Festival Hall, led the Make Poverty History March at the G8 Protest in Edinburgh, and performed at the Women of the World concert in London in March 2011.

As well as collaborating with Mansour Seck, he has also worked with Blur/Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn on the large-scale Africa Express project; in 2008 he created the soundtrack for the Playstation and X-Box game Far Cry 2 and worked with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning Ridley Scott movie Black Hawk Down.

In 20003 Baaba Maal was made a Youth Emissary for the United Nations’ Development Programme and is committed to the concerns of families, young people and the future of the continent. “When I
involve myself with Africa, my idea is of how Africa will grow into the new millennium. This is why I really wanted to make music, so more people can listen to my messages.

“I think the musician’s role is to give advice, to warn people and to make them aware of what they might not have thought of themselves,” he said. “We use melodies and harmonies to make songs enter your mind.”

Baaba Maal will perform twice during WOMAD New Zealand 2012, alongside an incredible array of musicians from all corners of the globe.

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