ORCHESTRA BAOBAB *live

In the organizer's words:

One of Africa's greatest bands: Senegal's Orchestra Baobab.

The Orchestra Baobab is an extraordinary group of singers and musicians who create a West African nightclub ambience with their blend of Afro-Latin styles, international pop, West African griot music and gently upbeat rhythms. Their story begins in the heart of Dakar's medina in the late 1960s and stretches across the world into the 21st century.

The band owes its beginnings to Ibra Kassé, club owner and founder of the Star Band, who turned Club Miami in Dakar into a notorious meeting place in the mid-1960s. The band absorbed new rhythms from all over the world - music that flowed into cosmopolitan Dakar from America, Europe and Cuba as well as from Senegal's West African neighbors Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea and the Ivory Coast. This eclectic mix of local and international rhythms and styles later became part of Baobab's DNA.

Club Baobab opened its doors in 1970. The operators recruited star band singers Balla Sidibe, Rudy Gomis and guitarist Barthelemy Attisso. Bassist Charlie Ndiaye and percussionist Mountaga Koite soon followed, along with rhythm guitarist Latfi Ben Jelloun, Nigerian clarinettist Peter Udo and experienced griot singer Laye Mboup.

From then on, Orchestra Baobab set the pace for a new era of modern Senegalese and African music. With a mix of pop, soul, funk and traditional music from all over Senegal and beyond, Orchestra Baobab developed a distinctive style.
Over the decades, the line-up of Baobab has changed, with sad departures and exciting new additions. Under the direction of the great Balla Sidibé, their critically acclaimed 2017 LP 'Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng' has revisited old territories and forged new ones.