Happy to have rediscovered the thrills of his beginnings during the creation of his new album Beingthe Senegalese star Baaba Maal explains having created in complete freedom, guided by the simple notion of pleasure and without constraint, in tune with his partner Johan Hugo, producer without musical borders. Meeting with the soon-to-be septuagenarian singer, seen and heard in the blockbuster American Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
6 mins
04/12/2023
RFI Musique: Seven years separate Being of his predecessor, The Traveler. Did your new album benefit from a longer gestation than expected due to the pandemic?
Baaba Maal: Covid helped a little with the writing. But it started long before. A good part of the first elements of this album came in New York, in a cultural center where many artists meet, exchange ideas, paint, make music. A small community. We stayed two or three days in a room there with some musical elements from Johan Hugo (producer of the new album and the previous one, editor’s note), some ideas from me, and we started recording four songs with two of my musicians – my drummer actually played on the floor with bottles to make the rhythm! And after the last edition, before Covid, of the Blues du rivière festival, at my place in Podor, when everyone had left, we continued. I confess that at that time, we were writing songs, not for an album, but quite simply for the pleasure of writing.
How does this change anything?
It takes me back to my beginnings. With my friend Mansour Seck, that’s how we did it. Whenever we have time, we take out the instruments, in the afternoon, in the evening after dinner. We sit down, we compose. We make music because we want to share certain emotions, certain feelings, certain melodies, certain rhythms. There is no pressure of time, of the record company saying that they want this or that direction. The industry didn’t exist in my head when writing this album. We let it flow, like the drop of water that falls at Fouta-Djallon in Guinea and constitutes the starting point of the Senegal River which will flow into the ocean at Saint-Louis. For example, the last track of the album Casamance Nights could have lasted twenty minutes!
On this album, you also highlight the talents of young artists, such as the Senegalese-Mauritanian rapper Paco Lenol or the singer Rougi. Beyond their artistic qualities, what attracts you to them?
I like reckless people, who are not afraid. The first time I came into contact with what young Rougi was doing, it was one of my most legendary songs that she had covered. There was only voice, no instruments. It’s not easy. She even went further than my harmonies! And she was filmed in an open square, mounted on a horse, with all the attire: boots, a straw hat on her head… Usually, you don’t see that in women. She is not aware of her talent which is natural, raw. So we had to give her an opportunity and we called her to ask if she wanted to participate in the song Boboyillo.
Is this also why you chose to work again with the Swede Johan Hugo from the British group The Very Best, who had already produced your previous album?
It’s true that he is reckless. I also like his open-mindedness towards other musical trends, other communities. He is not afraid to approach them. I like people who know how to take off their European, Asian, African costume to simply be a musician and consider the other musician as a parent. It was also he who made the link for Black Panther with the composer Ludwig Göransson – I think there must be a connection between Sweden and me! They have the same approach, and the same behavior with musicians. They know how to respect, listen and put you at ease.
How did Ludwig Göransson become aware of your music, which we hear in the films Black Panther And Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverwhere you appear on screen?
We traveled all over Senegal together. I hadn’t told him – and I don’t think it was honest on my part – that it was going to be the time when I was supposed to go on tour. He didn’t even rest, because we immediately took the road to play 600 kilometers from Dakar. He was taken from village to village for ten days. Deep Africa, where we do concerts with generators. It was worth it because it allowed him, beyond even watching our concerts, to see the ceremony that exists between the artist and his audience, how people welcome us, how we spend the day together, the time when the concert begins, people who arrive at 2 o’clock, without rushing, to listen to music quietly until 5 o’clock in the morning. His eyes were wide open.
Listening to your album, we sometimes have the impression of being in the universe Black Panther. Is there any porosity between the two projects, in terms of influences?
The percussions were recorded at home. I organized everything for Ludwig, so that he could have the six tamas, the djembes, the sabars. We hear musicians with whom I have been playing for over thirty years. Somewhere it was there, but I couldn’t appreciate it until there was this movie. So there is perhaps an interaction between what we do in Black Panther and what ended up in the album.
Senegal recently lost one of its most illustrious musical ambassadors: Ismaïla Touré, co-founder of Toure Kunda. How do you view the contribution of this group?
Ismaïla was someone who loved me very much, who gave me a lot of advice. I spoke with his brother Sixu to say that I sympathized with his pain for this loss. When I was passing through France in Nancy in the years when they were starting out, one of my friends bought tickets for us to go to the Touré Kunda concert. When I saw them on stage, I said to myself: they are showing me the path I must take to make music. They were precursors to what we are doing up to now and which young people are continuing. They opened the doors to world music. What they did remains etched in our memories.
Baaba Maal Being (Marathon Artists) 2023
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See also: Baaba Maal, a long-term career (filmed interview)