The Fulani man

There is something incredibly ethereal about Baaba Maal’s voice, maybe it has something to do with where he is from, a region in North Senegal called Fouta Toro where the air is apparently very thin and there is a lot of space. Whatever, he thinks it’s very loud but that it has gone beyond ever going back to being a quiet voice; he has passed the ‘Daande Heli’ or voice exploding stage. Baaba Maal is Fula; a minority tribe from the Senegalese interior and his music is of the Fulani tradition.

Although Baaba’s beginnings were humble, he has been travelling and learning from an early age, after college he travelled around West Africa with guitarist and friend Mansour Seck, learning from different villages, from their elders and their traditions.

"This is traditional for young musicians,” he explains. “When you arrive in a village you meet the young, you play your music. Then they take you to meet the oldest people of the village who know the history of the area and of the local music."

He has been releasing wondrous albums with his band Daande Lenol (translating to mean Voice of the People) since the eighties. His latest, Missing You… Mi Yeewnii, on the Palm Pictures label is an acoustic one and he gives it an airing at The Hall Of Fame in Dublin on 5th May. It is a passionate album, with a mix of traditional and poetic tracks that were recorded outdoors in Senegal over a couple of balmy evenings, hell you can even hear the audience of crickets applauding in the background. Produced by John Leckie of Radiohead and The Stone Roses fame and featuring a host of Senegalese superstars along side members of English bands, Da Lata and Sidestepper, this album kicks ass with nouvelle tradition.

"John Leckie brought a lot of experience to this album,” says Baaba. “First I needed musicians who knew a lot about West African music like Kaouding Cissokho, Mansour Seck and guests like Kante Manfila, but then I needed a producer who could respect these musicians and their traditions. John was working with rock but he is someone who can listen to the music without microphones and the know exactly where to put the microphone in."

Baaba is a man on a mission that extends beyond his music; he is a representative for the United Nations Development Programme and works as a spokesman on the issue of HIV/Aids in Africa.

"We need to give African people the opportunity to understand Aids, especially the people inside, the rural areas, they don’t know who can help them, they need information. So we use the fact that this band are very famous and close to the people. When we play, we meet the young people and the religious leaders, we talk to them. We are doing a lot in Senegal but there is still so much to do, to help people and give them awareness."

Both elements have come together when Baaba worked on the Red, Hot And Gershwin album and the imminent Fela Kuti tribute Red Hot And Riot both put together by the Red Hot Organisation, an Aids awareness campaign.

Senegal itself is a fertile garden of musical talent, with music almost viewed as an exportable commodity. West African music has always been very popular in the western world, it is a music that adapts itself well to different sounds, soaking up elements of Latin, Jazz and Funk into its repertoire. The majority of Senegalese music is Wolof, such as that of Youssou N’Dour or Cheikh Lo and is predominately about rhythm, Baaba’s sound is Fulani and because it comes from the Sahel area in the interior it is akin to Malian and Guinean music, which is more melodious. He is a religious man and his songs are steeped in Senegalese history, he sings about ancient prayers, fishermen’s laments, love, peace and of Africa and its development. He sings the blues and he sings for dancefloors and live he can just as easily whip up his audience into a mad frenzy as into tears.