Baaba Maal Is Named A United Nations Goodwill Ambassador!

Baaba Maal has today been appointed by the United Nations as a Goodwill Ambassador, an honorary spokesperson representing the...

'Being' is Available Now

THE NEW ALBUM ‘Being‘ Being, is an album about being from Africa, being a songwriter, being a romantic, being...

'Freak Out Ft. The Very Best', The New Single From 'Being' Is Out Now. Watch Official Video Here

Baaba’s new single ‘Freak Out Ft. The Very Best’ is available to stream everywhere now. “In the song is...

Baaba Maal Plays The Barbican For The First Time In 20 Years Next May!

Baaba and his extraordinary band will be performing at the Barbican in London, the first time in 20 years...

Baaba Maal Attends The Los Angeles Premiere Of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Baaba Maal was there on October 26th at the Los Angeles premiere of Black Panther; Wakanda Forever with friends, family and fellow travellers....
Charity, society, Travel
Baaba Maal Is Named A United Nations Goodwill Ambassador!
Discography, Music, Releases
'Being' is Available Now
Discography, Releases
'Freak Out Ft. The Very Best', The New Single From 'Being' Is Out Now. Watch Official Video Here
Live Gigs, Music, Travel
Baaba Maal Plays The Barbican For The First Time In 20 Years Next May!
Films
Baaba Maal Attends The Los Angeles Premiere Of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Releases

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About

The singer and guitarist belongs to the semi-nomadic Fulani people. He first left his homeland of Fouta, in northern Senegal to perform music hundreds of miles away as a teenage boy scout and he has been a wanderer ever since. “It’s part of my culture,” he says. “The songs travel from village to village, from country to country. It’s something natural to my tribe and this part of Africa.”

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Live Gigs

Discography, Music, Releases

‘Being’ is Available NowFeatured

THE NEW ALBUM

Being

Being, is an album about being from Africa, being a songwriter, being a romantic, being a realist, being wary, being online, being at the mercy of the elements, being on your way somewhere, and ultimately about being from Podor while being connected through song and dance to an always changing, always challenging world. 

Ideas about sound, movement, and sensation materialised at home based on recent experiences touring the world and lengthy, freestyle musical workouts with friends and favourite Senegalese musicians. The jams, loops and beats passed back and forth between Maal and Johan Karlberg, generating their own character and atmosphere. This ‘whatever happens, happens’ combination of fast and slow time, of speeding up and cooling down, of nature and technology became part of the music’s essence, along with the combining of indefinable ancient ritualistic mood with futurist exuberance, a futurism of heart and mind..

On Being, there are seven songs shimmering between dirty thorny desert blues and intangible electro-spirituals, between uplifting chants and trance-like freak outs. They are about generational debts and conflicts, rivers, watching people, seeing new generations of Africans make themselves felt, the impact of technology, remembering dreams, the magic of place, the strangeness of time, the feeling of home, the stars above, and the rhythms inside and out. Mixing up signs of a new Africa, there is a welcome reunion with The Very Best’s singer Esau Mwamwaya on ‘Freak Out’ and appearances from exciting new singer Rougi on ‘Boboyillo’ and Mauritanian rapper General Paco Lenol on ‘Nbedo Wella.’ 

 

“Always in my life, but especially in these last years, especially during the years of the pandemic, I discovered in my true soul that the only thing that matters to me is to just be. Whatever happens, it has to happen, and we have to deal with it. But my wish is that good things happen to me and to all people, so we can always be together, we can always travel, we can always discover how much this world, this planet can be beautiful. Being a musician is how I express this wish and how I try to make it come true.”

Baaba Maal

Track listing

1. Yerimayo Celebration
2. Freak Out Ft. The Very Best
3. Ndungu Ruumi
4. Agreement
5. Boboyillo
6. Mbeda Wella
7. Casamance Nights

Buy Album

Buy/ Stream the new album, ‘Being’

Press Quotes

His most satisfying outing in decades ★ ★ ★ ★
– Mojo

‘Being’ is the most enjoyable album Maal has released to date 8/10
– Clash

Just when you thought that Baaba Maal had no more surprises up his sleeve, along comes Being, a shimmering, stomping work of glory
– New Internationalist

You don’t need to understand the words to get the sense that Maal’s music is serving a higher purpose ★ ★ ★ ★
– The Times

Baaba’s soaring voice has never sounded more soulful. A fabulous return by one of Africa’s greatest living voices ★ ★ ★ ★
– Songlines

 Barbican Live May 30th

On May 30th, 2023, Baaba and his band will also be performing at The Barbican in London, his first appearance at the venue in 20 years. Hear Baaba perform tracks from ‘Being’ in the Barbican’s exquisite concert hall, book your tickets now to avoid any disappointment.

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Discography, Releases

‘Freak Out Ft. The Very Best’, The New Single From ‘Being’ Is Out Now. Watch Official Video HereFeatured

Baaba’s new single ‘Freak Out Ft. The Very Best’ is available to stream everywhere now.

In the song is a proverb that comes from the Fulanis, “The one who knows everything and don’t say anything is the wrong person. If you know, you have to share your knowledge. But the one also who knows everything and say all the things is also the one who destroyed everything. Because you should know, in your knowledge what you have to say and what you don’t have to say.” It’s not everything that has to be said.”

Watch The Official Video

Listen

Listen to the new single, ‘Freak Out’

Save

Save the new single ‘Freak Out’ to your playlist on Spotify or Apple Music and get access to an exclusive first listen of ‘Casamance Nights’, track number 7 from the forthcoming album, ‘Being’. Once saved to your playlist the link below will redirect you to the preview.

Save the new single, ‘Freak Out’

Baaba Maal’s daring and dazzling new album, ‘Being’, will be released on March 31st, 2023.

The record is a powerful continuation of his pioneering, transcendent work over the last forty years, blending the ancient and the modern, the acoustic and the electronic. Extending his productive partnership with producer and multi-instrumentalist Johan Karlberg (Self Esteem, The Very Best, Santigold), his first album since 2016’s The Traveller, Being was recorded in Brooklyn, London and Senegal. On ‘Being’, there are seven songs shimmering in exquisitely clashing equilibrium between dirty thorny desert blues and intangible electro-spirituals, between uplifting chants and trance-like freak outs. They are about generational debts and conflicts, rivers, watching people, seeing new generations of Africans make themselves felt, the impact of technology, remembering dreams, the magic of place, the strangeness of time, the feeling of home, the stars above, and the rhythms inside and out.

Tracklist:

  1. Yerimayo Celebration
  2. Freak Out Ft. The Very Best
  3. Ndungu Ruumi
  4. Agreement
  5. Boboyillo Ft. Rougi
  6. Mbeda Wella Ft. Paco Lenol
  7. Casamance Nights

“Each song of this album has its own personality. A song is like a person. It has a life, name, a character, and it has a position in life. I think that’s what makes this album so powerful – it is totally about now and where I am now, the dreams I have of the past and the future.”

Baaba Maal

Buy ‘Being’ – Out March 23rd, 2023

Register Your Interest In The Being NFT

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Charity, society, Travel

Baaba Maal Is Named A United Nations Goodwill Ambassador!

Baaba Maal has today been appointed by the United Nations as a Goodwill Ambassador, an honorary spokesperson representing the UN’s interests, raising awareness and mobilising support.

Seeing no difference between reaching people as a musician and as a humanitarian, between being the Voice of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther films and energetically advocating urgent and constructive environmental action, his new role will expand on work he has been doing as a Land Ambassador with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

“Being made a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador opens up new possibilities for me. It will help me to do more and give more and continue the progress I have been working towards over the last few decades with my music and my band and my community projects in Senegal. It enables me to knock on more doors when it comes to the religious and political leaders and the banks and institutions who have the power to create opportunities for people. I can advise the leaders and bankers and hopefully influence their decision making on agriculture, fishing, education, the restoration of land, the fight against desertification and the terrible impact of climate change.

I can do more to give power to people who need that power to do things for themselves and not have to rely on help that often never comes. I can do more for the young people and the women fighting so hard to get where they want to get. As a Goodwill Ambassador I can talk on their behalf and help them talk for themselves. It is always difficult to achieve change, there are always struggles and obstacles, but this is not a reason to not try. If you play your role and someone else plays their role and you work together it can make things happen. I have my role and I am very happy to take on this new responsibility, to show that Africa is moving forward and will continue to do so.”

Baaba Maal
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Music

Baaba Maal on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’, ‘Ways To Change The World, and ‘Rockenteurs Podcast’

Senegalese singer Baaba Maal speaks on his latest single, ‘Agreement’, and his upcoming album ‘Being’ on this episode of ‘All Songs Considered’. Listen back to the show below, hear Baaba’s feature at 25:20.

In today’s Ways to Change the World, Baaba sits down with Krishnan Guru-Murthy to discuss the power of music and why we are all politicians in our own way when it comes to helping the world. “I’m a nomadic person, I don’t want to stay in one place”. When Baaba writes his music, he takes inspiration from the places he visits. “When I started travelling, I came to London, I bought cassettes, I appreciated different people. And when I got a chance to meet them, we sat down and wrote songs”. But no matter how much Baaba has travelled, and to where, he always brings his music “back home to Podor, Senegal”.

Watch a the podcast below, or listen back to the full show here: LISTEN

This week on Rockonteurs, Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt meet the singer and guitarist Baaba Maal.

Born and raised in Senegal, Baaba has long been a champion of ensuring the sounds of Africa are heard across the globe.

He’s worked with other artists from Brian Eno to Mumford and Sons and created the soundtrack for the Black Panther movies. Baaba Maal releases his new album on March 31st called ‘Being’. His first in 7 years.

Listen back to the show here: LISTEN

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Discography, Releases

‘Agreement’, the Fourth Track From ‘Being’ is Out Now

Baaba’s new single Agreement is available to stream everywhere now.

Agreement is about the relationships you make in your life, whether they are with friends, musicians, neighbours, people you love. When you say to people, we are going on this journey through life together, through good times and bad, you should be very sure that you mean it. It’s based on a proverb from my community – to say no at the beginning to the idea that we will always be together is much stronger and more noble that beginning a relationship and then cutting it short later, maybe forty years later. Be mature enough to take seriously an agreement you make with someone about the future, about your souls being connected.”

The hypnotic track features Barou Sall, a Hoddu master and long time Baaba Maal collaborator. The Hoddu is a traditional Senegalese instrument which prefigures the banjo, and accompanies Baaba’s pure, searching vocal, backed by Mamadou Sarr’s delicate percussion.

Listen

Listen to the new single, ‘Agreement’

Save

Save the new single ‘Agreement’ to your playlist and get access to an exclusive first listen of ‘Casamance Nights’, track number 7 from the forthcoming album, ‘Being’. Once saved to your playlist the link below will redirect you to the preview.

Save the new single, ‘Agreement’

Watch

Baaba Maal’s daring and dazzling new album, ‘Being’, will be released on March 31st, 2023.

The record is a powerful continuation of his pioneering, transcendent work over the last forty years, blending the ancient and the modern, the acoustic and the electronic. Extending his productive partnership with producer and multi-instrumentalist Johan Karlberg (Self Esteem, The Very Best, Santigold), his first album since 2016’s The Traveller, Being was recorded in Brooklyn, London and Senegal. On ‘Being’, there are seven songs shimmering in exquisitely clashing equilibrium between dirty thorny desert blues and intangible electro-spirituals, between uplifting chants and trance-like freak outs. They are about generational debts and conflicts, rivers, watching people, seeing new generations of Africans make themselves felt, the impact of technology, remembering dreams, the magic of place, the strangeness of time, the feeling of home, the stars above, and the rhythms inside and out.

Tracklist:

  1. Yerimayo Celebration
  2. Freak Out Ft. The Very Best
  3. Ndungu Ruumi
  4. Agreement
  5. Boboyillo Ft. Rougi
  6. Mbeda Wella Ft. Paco Lenol
  7. Casamance Nights

“Each song of this album has its own personality. A song is like a person. It has a life, name, a character, and it has a position in life. I think that’s what makes this album so powerful – it is totally about now and where I am now, the dreams I have of the past and the future.”

Baaba Maal

Buy ‘Being’ – Out March 23rd, 2023

Register Your Interest In The Being NFT

Continue reading
Live Gigs, Music, Travel

Baaba Maal Plays The Barbican For The First Time In 20 Years Next May!

Baaba and his extraordinary band will be performing at the Barbican in London, the first time in 20 years at the venue, on May 30th, 2023. He will be performing his definitive tracks and music from his forthcoming album, Being. He’ll be bringing a guest to open the show with him, which will be revealed at a later date.

The general sale for tickets opens on Friday 09.12 at 10am (GMT), and tickets are available from The Barbican’s website.

 

Tickets

Get Tickets For Baaba’s Barbican Show

 

Press Quotes

worship at the feet of a true master.
– The Telegraph

Maal’s progressive outlook on music performance certainly warrants his booking at any of the best venues in the country.
– The Independent

Contemporary electronics and West African guitar music combine to thrilling effect with Baaba Maal’s output.

– Evening Standard

An often emotional reminder of Maal’s lengthy career and acoustic roots.
– Guardian

A rich performance was bolstered by abundant musicians, dancers and audience members.
– Financial Times

 

 

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Live Gigs, Music, Travel

Baaba Maal Returns To Blues Du Fleuve Festival In 2022!

Taking place in Podor, Senegal, from the 5th of December 2022. Baaba will be returning to the Blues Du Flueuve festival along with his band and will be bringing a variety of special guests. The Blues Du Fleuve is primarily a music event but also features art, fashion and artisanal crafts, as well as discussions and booths relating to local cultural issues and climate change.

Nann-K

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Discography, Releases

Baaba Maal Announces Forthcoming Album, ‘Being’ With New Single, ‘Yerimayo Celebration’

Baaba’s new single Yerimayo Celebration is available to stream everywhere now. Yerimayo Celebration is an introduction to a collection of songs that sees Baaba calling for people to both honour tradition and deal with new technology as they face up to a rapidly changing, challenging world.  Featuring regular collaborators including Cheikh Ndoye on bass ngoni and Momadou Sarr on percussion, it is a glorious, positive percussion-heavy celebration of music and how in troubled times it can open the mind and hearts and fight cynicism and chaos. The song celebrates the culture of the fisherman and their communities. The fishermen are the care takers of the waters and also the connection between the people and the spirit of the water.

Listen

Listen to the new single, ‘Yerimayo Celebration’

Baaba Maal’s daring and dazzling new album, ‘Being’, will be released on March 31st, 2023.

The record is a powerful continuation of his pioneering, transcendent work over the last forty years, blending the ancient and the modern, the acoustic and the electronic. Extending his productive partnership with producer and multi-instrumentalist Johan Karlberg (Self Esteem, The Very Best, Santigold), his first album since 2016’s The Traveller, Being was recorded in Brooklyn, London and Senegal. On ‘Being’, there are seven songs shimmering in exquisitely clashing equilibrium between dirty thorny desert blues and intangible electro-spirituals, between uplifting chants and trance-like freak outs. They are about generational debts and conflicts, rivers, watching people, seeing new generations of Africans make themselves felt, the impact of technology, remembering dreams, the magic of place, the strangeness of time, the feeling of home, the stars above, and the rhythms inside and out.

Tracklist:

  1. Yerimayo Celebration
  2. Freak Out Ft. The Very Best
  3. Ndungu Ruumi
  4. Agreement
  5. Boboyillo Ft. Rougi
  6. Mbeda Wella Ft. Paco Lenol
  7. Casamance Nights

“Each song of this album has its own personality. A song is like a person. It has a life, name, a character, and it has a position in life. I think that’s what makes this album so powerful – it is totally about now and where I am now, the dreams I have of the past and the future.”

Baaba Maal

On May 30th, 2023, Baaba and his band will also be performing at The Barbican in London, his first appearance at the venue in 20 years. 

General ticket sale is live now: TICKETS

Buy The Forthcoming Album, ‘Being’

Buy ‘Being’ – Out March 23rd, 2023

Register Your Interest In The Being NFT

Continue reading
Films

Baaba Maal Attends The Los Angeles Premiere Of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

baaba maal black panther wakanda forever premiere

Baaba Maal was there on October 26th at the Los Angeles premiere of Black Panther; Wakanda Forever with friends, family and fellow travellers. Baaba once again works with soundtrack composer Ludwig Göransson to help create the sound of Wakanda; one Africa colliding spectacularly with another, imagining a different kind of future.

Experience Black Panther; Wakanda Forever in cinemas from 11.11.22.

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