This legendary African/Latin band was formed in 1970 to play inauguration of Dakar's Baobab Club, the brainchild of then Senegalese government ministers Adrien Senghor, Ousmane Diagne and Dame Drame. Latin pop had been a dominant musical force in Dakar since the 1940s, and while Baobab would take steps towards the creation of a more uniquely Senegalese sound, they mostly hewed close to the son, pachanga, and cha cha cha styles that were so popular in West and Central Africa at the time. In keeping with that vision perhaps, the band's original leaders, Baro N'Diaye (saxophone) and Sidathe Ly (bass), chose a lineup that avoided any overriding ethnic or even national identity. Guitarist Barthelemy Attisso came from Togo, and vocalist Rudolphe Gomis from Guinea-Bissau. Vocalist/percussionist/guitarist Balla Sidibe from Senegal's turbulent Cassamance region, where a Manding independence movement was already underway.

All these players, and many more Baobab stalwarts, came from the Star Band, which had long reigned supreme at the popular Miami Club. Recruited from the National Troupe, singer Laye M'Boup brought Wolof vocals to the new group, but as he was not always dependable to be on the scene, the band later called in the young and mostly unknown Thione Seck as a backup. Thione was eventually replaced by his young brother, Mapenda. N'Diouga Dieng also sang beautiful Wolof songs with Orchestra Baobab. Another celebrated Baobab singer, Medoune Diallo, brought the sound of the Toucouleur people of the north (the ethnic group of Baaba Maal). Saxophonist Issa Cissoko learned from Dexter Johnson, and soon, he too was spirited away from the Star Band to add another Manding element to Baobab's sound. Over the band's initial 12-year run, the lineup included percussionists from Mali, a guitarist with Moroccan ancestry, and a clarinet player from Nigeria.

By 1975, the year that Laye M'Boup died in a car crash, Baobab was not only among the three top bands in Senegal, but it had a regional following, not unlike Bembeya Jazz in Sekou Toure's Guinea. Baobab played ceremonial concerts, including one for the nomination of Abdou Diouf as Prime Minister, as well as countless glamorous receptions and benefits. When the Baobab Club closed in 1979, the band moved to a nightclub called Ngalam. At their height in 1982--the year that Pirate's Choice was recorded--Baobab was one of the most respected and best paid bands in the West Africa.

That same year, though, 23-year-old Youssou N'Dour shook up the scene and ushered in a powerful wave of driving, percussive mbalax music, a sound that cut closer to the bone of modern Senegalese reality and quickly dated Baobab's relaxed, Latin offerings. An attempt to update Baobab's sound to follow the mbalax trend failed in 1985, and two years later the group disbanded, not to play again until their unexpected reunion in 2001.

Today, the Baobab sound can be appreciated in a historic context, as a complement and a component of the mbalax sound, not as competition. Lucky for the world, a number of Baobab's original members are still around and keen to play again. Orchestra Baobab is expected to record and release a new album in 2002.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre