Podor
—  Town  —
Podor
Coordinates: 16°37′N 15°02′W / 16.617°N 15.033°W / 16.617; -15.033
Country	Senegal
Region	Saint-Louis Region
Time zone	GMT (UTC+0)

Podor is the northernmost town in Senegal, Africa, lying on Morfil Island between the Sénégal River and Doué River. It is home to a ruined French fort, built in 1854 as a centre for gold trading, and is the birthplace of fashion designer Oumou Sy, and musicians Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck.

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Coordinates: 16°37′N 15°02′W / 16.617°N 15.033°W / 16.617; -15.033

Baaba Maal
Maal in 2011
Background information
Born	(1953-11-12) November 12, 1953 (age 58) Podor, Senegal
Genres	Yela, Worldbeat
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, composer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Mango, Palm
Website	Official site

Baaba Maal (born 12 November 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July 2003, he was made a UNDP Youth Emissary.

Biography[link]

Baaba Maal was expected to follow his father and become a fisherman. However, under the influence of his lifelong friend Mansour Seck, Baaba devoted himself to learning music from his mother and his school's headmaster. He went on to study music at the university in Dakar before leaving for postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is well known in Africa and internationally is probably Senegal's most famous musician after Youssou N'Dour.

Baaba sings primarily in Pulaar^[1] and is the foremost promoter of the traditions of the Pulaar-speaking peoples who live on either side of the Senegal River in the ancient Senegalese kingdom of Futa Tooro.

In 1998, Baaba recorded "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" for the Red Hot Organization’s compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody a tribute to George Gershwin which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. In 2002, Baaba again worked with the Red Hot Organization and appeared on a track titled "No Agreement" alongside Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Positive Black Soul and Archie Shepp for the tribute album to Fela Kuti, Red Hot + Riot.

On 7 July 2007 Baaba performed at the South African leg of Live Earth.

Baaba Maal's album On The Road, a live acoustic album recorded straight from the mixing boards of his shows over the last ten years, was released on 10 August 2008. A new studio album, Television, was released on 1 June 2009.

Music[link]

After returning from study in Paris, Baaba studied traditional music with his blind guitarist and family griot, Mansour Seck, and began performing with the band Daande Lenol. Baaba's fusions continued into the next decade with his Firin' in Fouta (1994) album, which used ragga, salsa and Breton harp music to create a popular sound that launched the careers of Positive Black Soul, a group of rappers, and also led to the formation of the Afro-Celt Sound System. His fusion tendencies continued on 1998's Nomad Soul, which featured Brian Eno as one of seven producers. In addition to his various solo releases, he was featured on two tracks - "Bushes" and "Dunya Salam" - on the concept album 1 Giant Leap.

He also featured on two tracks "Hunger" and "Still" on the Black Hawk Down soundtrack and performed on the title track of the 2008 video game Far Cry 2.^[2] He will be playing at Bonnaroo and the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in 2010.

He has recently featured on a track on the new Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly album entitled All of This Yours.

Baaba Maal sang the track for Kerala Tourism's 2010 ad campaign 'Your moment is waiting' with music composed by One Giant Leap.^[3]

Discography[link]

• 1989 – Passion – Sources - Real World Records (compilation)
• 1989 – Djam Leelii (with Mansour Seck) – Mango Records
• 1991 – Baayo (with Mansour Seck) – Mango
• 1992 – Lam Toro – Mango
• 1994 – Wango – Syllart
• 1994 – Firin' in Fouta – Mango
• 1995 – Gorel – 4th & Broadway
• 1997 – Taara – Melodie
• 1998 – Nomad Soul – Import
• 1998 – Djam Leelii: The Adventurers – Yoff Productions
• 1999 – Live at the Royal Festival Hall – Palm Pictures – Palm (DVD)
• 2000 – Jombaajo – Sonodisc
• 2001 – Missing You (Mi Yeewnii) – Palm
• 2003 – 'The Best of the Early Years – Wrasse (compilation)
• 2005 – Palm World Voices: Baaba Maal – Palm (compilation)
• 2008 – On The Road – Palm (compilation)
• 2009 – Television – Palm

Import releases[link]

• Jombaajo
• Ngalanka
• Ndilane

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site