True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. - Alexander Pope
Dec 19, 2010
Orchestra Baobab - Nijaay
Spending my night listening to old songs from Senegal.
Orchestra Baobab is a Senegalese Afro-Cuban and Pachanga band formed in 1970.
Many of the original members were veterans of the famous Star Band, whose alumni later included the Étoile de Dakar, El Hadji Faye and Youssou N’Dour. So when the Baobab Club opened in Dakar in 1970, six players, led by saxophonist Baro N'Diaye, were lured from Star Band and the Orchestra Baobab were born.
The original frontmen of the band were the Casamance singers Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis who came from the melting pot of Casamance musical styles, and most famously Laye Mboup (killed in a 1974 car accident) who provided vocals in the Wolof griot style. His Wolof language lyrics and his soaring, nasal voice defined the sound of Baobab's early hits.