Gene says what could be better than this lilting, grooving blend of African and Cuban tinged Latin music as we enjoy the opening weeks of screen porch season? The answer is not dang much!

Those irresistibly husky, deep-velvet vocal harmonies.  That smokily rhapsodic tenor sax sound.  Those sweetly stinging guitar lines unfurling over throbbing Pan-African and Afro-Cuban rhythms.  It could only be Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab creators of one of the world’s most sublime and truly distinctive pop sounds. Now One of Africa’s great, iconic bands returns with a beautifully crafted album inspired by one of the worlds most explosive musical cities –- a record that could only have been “Made in Dakar.”

Founded in 1970, Orchestra Baobab fused Afro-Cuban rhythm and Portuguese Creole melody with Congolese rumba, high life, and a whole gamut of local styles – kick-starting a musical renaissance in their native Senegal, which turned the capital Dakar into one of the world’s most vibrant musical cities.  While Baobab found themselves sidelined by the revolution they helped create and disbanded in 1985, a groundswell of international interest led to their triumphant reformation in 2001 with the album Specialist in All Styles – their first new recording in two decades.  Made in Dakar is its worthy follow-up, causing the Guardian in the UK to write, “they’ve reclaimed their place as pioneers of African pop.”

Orchestra Baobab was formed in Dakar in 1970 when a group of Senegalese government ministers that included Adrien Senghor, Ousmane Diagne and Dame Drame, decided to create an intimate club where they could meet with their friends. They took over the premises in the basement of 144 Rue Jules Ferry, a stone’s throw from Independence Square and the Presidential Palace, and fashioned its walls and ceilings to resemble the ubiquitous Baobab tree, known among other things for its longevity and the shade of its branches. They called it the Baobab Club. Baro N’Diaye (saxophone) the first band leader and Sidathe Ly (bass guitar) chose the other founding members of Orchestra Baobab. Moussa Kane played congas and toumba, Biteye was the first drummer. Barthelemy Attisso (lead guitar) and the singers Balla Sidibe (who also played drums, guitar and congas) and Rudy Gomis were enticed away from the Star Band at Ibra Kasse’s Miami Club. Laye M’Boup, the charismatic star of the National Troupe at the Daniel Sorano Theatre came with his stunning good looks, his local griot singing talents, perfect pitch and a vast repertoire of Wolof songs; Orchestra Baobab hit the scene.

Latin music had been popular in Senegal since the 1940s when visiting sailors brought Cuban records through the port of Dakar. By the late 1950s Senegal and neighboring countries, including Guinea and Mali, were seeking independence from colonial rule and growing political links with Cuba served to reinforce the interest in Cuban music. But it was the intriguingly cool mix of Latin pachanga, salsa, cha cha cha and African music that became the great strength of Orchestra Baobab.

Initially the group played the Baobab Club at weekends but they were soon so popular they were playing every night and the dance floor was always full. By the mid-1970s they were being hailed as the best band in Senegal, if not in Africa.

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