Pitchfork

For nearly four decades, the members of Senegal's Orchestra Baobab have been stirring rumbling Cubano percussion and angular "cha-cha-chas!" into their Sahelian stew of arabesque arpeggios and griot psalms-- thanks to them, the Official Map of Guitar Music now depicts Cuba as an island off the coast of Senegal, separated by a narrow body of water called the Atlantic Ocean. Lots of that has to do with the slave trade (boatloads of Senegalese Wolofs came to Cuba) and négritude, stuff Ned Sublette's definitive history Cuba and Its Music can explain in glimmering detail. But the enduring international popularity of the band and their Spanish-speaking cousins in the Buena Vista Social Club, in faraway places where Wolofs, Mandinkas, and Cubans are a distinct minority, suggests that, by any geographical standard, this Mambo/Son/Charanga/Big Band Cuban combo just works.

After Senegalese power and culture shifted to the less Europeanized hinterland, this upscale club fixture almost dropped off the radar, but with the help from benefactor Nick Gold, they managed to eek out a positively unlikely resurgence. To celebrate, Gold's label World Circuit is unloading Made in Dakar, containing new recordings of hard-to-find tracks-- many of them lost onto groddy cassettes that you just can't find anymore-- along with new songs. "Nijaay" was originally performed in the early 70s and is featured in a more uptempo version here: No matter what corner of the Afro-Cuban continent you hail from, there's something to dig, be it the swirling guitar runs spilling out of Togolese Barthelemy Attisso or the vocal contributions of Youssou Ndour. The conga flutters even tell an interesting story, about ocean crossings and musical adaptations. Ask Ned Sublette all about it.

MP3:> Orchestra Baobab: "Nijaay"
[from Made in Dakar; due 05/20/08 on World Circuit/Nonesuch]