NANN-K foundation instagram launched
Baaba Maal launched NANN-K to help end the impact of desertification in the Sahel Region of Africa as well as to support the sustainable use of natural resources including renewable energy and low impact farming. NANN-K helps local communities restore their land including through planting trees and natural regeneration. You can now follow our progress on our very own Instagram account – Click here to follow us
Continue readingBaaba Land Ambassador Update
UNCCD Land Ambassador and renowned singer Baaba Maal returned to his native Senegal in December to headline the annual Blues de Fleuve festival and make a contribution to the global sustainable development through agriculture. His non-profit organization NANN-K works to bring to life his vision of helping rural people in Senegal to set up their own sustainable agricultural businesses, with secured public and private financing.
The name “NANN-K” in Pulaar language spells out the initial letters of the five crucial elements that the organization addresses: agriculture, fishing, livestock farming, culture and technology access. While in Podor, Baaba Maal visited the irrigation programme implemented by NANN-K to support local farming and create work opportunities for thousands of people in construction, harvesting, processing and shipping. In the future, the organization will focus on projects related to commercial fishing, modernization of agrotechnologies and preventing desertification.
To inspire environmental movement against desertification that spares no continent, Baaba Maal, in collaboration with another UNCCD Land Ambassador Ricky Kej, recently released the music video for the UNCCD official Land Anthem “Born from the Land.”
Baaba planting trees
During the course of the Blues du Fleuve festival Baaba invited guests to see the newly created farmland on the edge of the Senegal River in Niaoule, to demonstrate how NANN-K projects can help grow local economies. He also visited four nearby towns around Podor to promote his #Africlean campaign. In Les Diawara, Diambo Diawbee, Dioundou Taredji and Diambo Soubalbe, he planted trees to promote agroforestry and raise awareness of the importance of trees to prevent desertification in the region.
The 2019 edition of the Blues Du Fleuve Festival is coming up soon!
Taking place in Podor, Senegal, on the 6th, 7th and 8th of December. The three day festival will see Baaba and his band the Daande Lenol performing alongside 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.
Check back again soon for artist listings and more updates.
Continue readingBaaba performing at The Town Hall in NYC
Baaba Maal will be performing in New York City for the first time in 8 years!
The show will take place at The Town Hall and will feature Baaba playing some of his most popular tracks.
The show is on May 4th and there are a few tickets left so buy now to avoid disappointment!
MORE INFORMATION AND BOOKING INFO >
Continue readingWakanda Remixes Out Now
Available today from Marvel Music/Hollywood Records is the Black Panther: Wakanda Remixed digital EP featuring 5 remixes of tracks from the original motion picture soundtrack composed by Grammy®-nominated composer and songwriter Ludwig Göransson and performed by Baaba Maal. Göransson produced and remixed two of the five tracks, “Waterfalls” and “Black Panther.” It also includes tracks produced by DJ Dahi (Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Drake), Canadian producer WondaGurl (Travis Scott, Big Sean), plus Michael Uzowuru and Jeff Kleinman (Jorja Smith, Anderson Paak, Frank Ocean).
Marvel Studios’ Black Panther has been a cultural phenomenon. The score soundtrack debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Music chart in its first week of release. The film recently crossed the $700 million mark at the domestic box office, becoming just the third film in history to reach this incredible threshold and is also the biggest domestic release of 2018 and the second biggest global release of 2018.
So kick back, imagine you are chilling with T’Challa & Okoye and put yourself in Wakanda with these new interpretations.
Continue readingThe Black Panther Original Score
This year saw the release of the seminal Marvel film The Black Panther. The film has been a huge block-buster success and one of the drivers of the film’s intensity is the original score.
Baaba Maal and members of his band were invited to collaborate with Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson to create an epic score with authentic African flavour.
The original score is out now on amazon and other major retailers
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Panther-Original-Ludwig-Göransson/dp/B079Q2CB5Z/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520601501&sr=8-1&keywords=black+panther+original
US: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Panther-Original-Ludwig-Göransson/dp/B079QFPHJG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520601469&sr=8-1&keywords=black+panther+original
In the video below, Baaba explains how the collaboration came about and the impact of the film on Africa and the diaspora.
Continue readingTravelling Light – Baaba Maal in a rare solo performance (new date added!)
Book tickets now to get rare access to an intimate show with Baaba Maal.
Baaba will be performing solo – without his band the Daande Lenol or his group of travelling musicians. This pared down performance is bound to captivate with Baaba’s voice taking centre stage.
The first show will be at London’s Union Chapel on Thursday 26 April 2018. Be sure to reserve your tickets soon as this event is likely to sell out quickly due to it’s very special format and nature.
UPDATE: the show on the 26th is now SOLD OUT but we are pleased to announce a second London date. Baaba will be performing again on the 27th April so if you haven’t picked your ticket up yet, you’re in luck. Get in there quick before this night sells out too.
For tickets and info please click here
Continue readingNann-K
‘For years I have been discussing global sustainable development with many amazing organisations, including Oxfam and the UN,’ says Baaba Maal.
‘And now I have decided that this is the time for me to create a means to help people to set up their own sustainable businesses.
‘This will be under the umbrella name of my organisation NANN-K.’
NANN-K will liaise between people who wish to progress in agriculture but are unaccustomed to dealing with the financial institutions who can further their plans. NANN-K will act as a gatekeeper, taking on the task of organizing funding, either from government loans or through commercial, private financing.
A Pulaar word, ‘NANN-K’ tellingly translates as the phrase ‘Listen to this.’ And in its original language spells out the initial letters of the five crucial elements with which it will be concerned: Agriculture; Fishing; Livestock Farming; Culture; and Technology Access.
The notion of NANN-K came to Baaba Maal in a midnight reverie.
But the project is far from being a dream.
The intention of NANN-K as an organisation is that it will support people from Senegal, Baaba Maal’s own country, and then throughout Africa, in developing a career in agriculture – through farming the land, raising animals, and fishing. All these are time-old rural pursuits but they have never been organised or brought into the 21st century, let alone combined with the latest digital thinking.
Thinking locally, acting globally, NANN-K was first started in the northern Senegalese region of Saint Louis and Podor. Purposefully targeting young people, it has organised start-up loans and developed apprentice schemes. NANN-K encourages the creation of
cooperative structures, allowing small family farms to remain independent whilst tapping into a larger support network.
NANN-K also interfaces with the Senegalese government: the NANN-Kk agricultural structure permits considerable opportunities for dialogue and cooperation between farmers and the government.
NANN-K was launched in Dakar on March 28th 2016, International Woman’s Day, with a concert by Baaba Maal. The date was chosen to honour the involvement of women in the development of business in Africa. There has since been a first anniversary show at Dakar’s Amadou Barry stadium.
On May 6 at Zenith in Paris there will be a Daande Lenol concert, featuring special guests, to launch the project to the African diaspora.
‘It is very important that the diaspora become involved,’ says Baaba Maal. ‘The diaspora are already trying to help in their own ways andNANN-K will assist them to do this by creating transparency and giving them opportunities to help the communities as a whole, not just individuals.
‘I intend to be the voice for the people in Africa’s rural communities: I want to offer them a chance to be part of the future development of Africa.’
Continue reading