National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

It's been twenty five years since two young Senegalese musicians named Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck first set the international music scene ablaze with their debut Djam Leelii. That album launched Maal's career as one of modern Africa's great superstars.Today, at 53, he is one of world music's elder statesmen; a dependable international hitmaker and international human rights advocate who's as likely to hobnob with the likes of Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela as he is with Bono and Damon Albarn.

But while Maal has kept busy working with the UN on such causes as youth development and AIDs prevention in Africa, it's been eight long years since his last new release (2001's Missing You (Mi Yeewnii)). And in that time, a whole new generation of border-hopping, genre-bending international artists has sprung up to rearrange the world music landscape.

But the old lion wasn't sleeping. Late last year he went back into the studio with his band, Daande Lenol, and a few new friends - including Brazilian Girls' Sabina Sciubba and Didi Gutman - to record Television, released this month in the U.S. on Palm Pictures. The groundbreaking new album marks a new direction for Maal, embracing the quirky, post-electronic eclecticism of the new guard, while bringing the spine-tingling voice and rock-solid musicianship that made him a star in the first place.

Nat Geo Music caught up with Maal over the summer, when he was in town for the Mandela Day celebration at Radio City Music Hall, and got him talking about his new album, television in Africa and professional wrestling in Senegal.

Nat Geo Music: This album is a real departure for you, why did you want to go in this new direction?

I wanted to go to a place where people could just listen to me as a musician, not just as a musician from Africa or Senegal - or as a spokesman. I grew up listening to all different kinds of music, and I discovered the world through music. Since people from all over the world are coming to African music, borrowing from it and listening to it, I thought, why not move towards them?

Do you think this album will surprise your longtime fans, who might expect something more traditional?

I hope so, yes. And I think that's good. Artists need to give their fans new ideas and new sounds or the relationship becomes complacent. But sometimes people get confused about traditional music is in Africa. What's really traditional music in Africa is music played maybe 100, 200 years ago on very traditional instruments. This is the music of the griots and the villages. And if you hear the music that I play with Mansour Seck, maybe it sounds old, because we use these older instruments, but it's still new music. It's popular music that takes its sound from our traditions, but it's not "traditional" music.

There are a lot of people who have very fixed opinions about what "African Music" should sound like?

Yes... I know {laughing}... I just don't argue anymore with that perception, and I'm going to tell you why. On one hand, everyone says they want to see Africa progress, to use technology and education to take their place in the world. But on the other hand, many of these same people want African musicians to stay traditional, exotic, tropical, whatever, and not use modern technology in their music. They want to put computers in every school in Africa, but they want to forbid African musicians from making music on them!

In the West, everybody wants musicians to move forward and break boundaries, but they also want African musicians to stay locked in the past. This is why I wanted to make this album, to demonstrate that African musicians can embrace the future as well as the past.

So how did Television come about?

I first wanted to do this [after] I came four years ago to work a little bit in Philadelphia, in the studio of The Roots. That was the first step of writing these songs. That's where the ideas came of how the bass would sound, how the drums would sound? I went to see them in concert in Philadelphia and I participated in that concert also, and I liked what they were doing very much. So that was the first idea I had of the direction this record would take.

Then I went back home, took my time, and tried to see who would be interested in writing? so I talked with [producer] Barry Reynolds, who played me the music of the Brazilian Girls, and I knew they were who I wanted to work with to achieve the sound I was looking for.

Why?

Because their band comes from Europe and Argentina and New York, so they have a very original outlook and an international sound, that, I think is the future of this thing we call world music. I liked immediately that Sabina's voice is totally different from mine, but she understands how to use it in the same way I do.

Like an instrument?

As an instrument, exactly. Her voice is very powerful, like mine, but she also understands how to use it as pure sound, not just a carrier for lyrics. And Didi knows how to use keyboards and electronics to create sounds, too - not just music, but sound and texture. On this album I wanted the music and the sound and the atmosphere to come first, and the words to follow from that.

Were you tired of writing "message songs"?

No, it's not that. I will always be using music to talk about the important things I want to talk about. On this album, "Song For Women" and "Tindo" both send messages, they educate and give guidance and instruction. That's always a part of my music.

But sometimes in Africa when you write a song, you don't take care about the structure; about how long the song is, or how many chords there are. Sometimes you just have one chord and can sing on top of that for twenty minutes. But I wanted these songs to have the structure and discipline of Western pop songs. This is why I worked with Barry, to write these songs, because we worked together before and I know when I take a song to him, he knows exactly how to give that song a head, a body and an ending, and make it into a single.

What was your writing process like on Television?

Very different. Didi and Sabina brought a different spirit. For example when we were writing the song "Television," sometimes we were playing, but sometimes I put my guitar down and Didi and I just talked about television, the effect of television in the west and in Africa? we talked a lot about the messages we wanted to have on the album.

What impact has television had on Africa? What did you want to say about it?

Television has had a tremendous impact on Africa. Obviously it isn't new, but the way we're using it now is. In the past only the elite had televisions, and the programs were produced in Europe and America and were mostly in French or English. But now everybody can watch television, and it's being produced in African countries, giving African political leaders a chance to talk about their programs in African languages, so now everyone understands. And they're also promoting African culture, African music and African sports, In Senegal, for instance, we have traditional wresting that's on television now.

Senegalese pro-wrestling? No way!

[laughing] Yes! Yes! And I tell you, when this is on in Senegal, in every little village, there is no one left in the streets. Everybody is watching wrestling. Every one knows the names of these wrestlers and they are paid very well. And you can have a ceremony in your village and watch it on TV now, too. Television has become the new griot in Senegal.

It's funny, we always hear about how mobile phones are transforming Africa, but we never hear about the impact of television?

It's true. Television can be very positive and help promote an African identity, and many times mobile phones and television can combine. For example I was on the Big Brother program in South Africa. The producers there decided to make it a week to promote the Millennium Goals, so they had musicians, writers, historians, and storytellers came to visit the kids. So I went there to talk about education and play some music. It's a live program and the impact was huge. When people saw that, they were sending text messages live on the program saying that it helped them understand the importance of education and the Millennium Goals. That's the power of television and mobile [phones] in Africa. The internet is important for the future, but not everyone has access yet. Television in Africa is right now, and we have to ensure that we use its power responsibly.

What's the relationship between music and television like in Africa?

In Senegal, like in many parts of Africa, television is just now catching up with the music business. We've been exporting our music for a long time, and there are many studios, radio stations, nightclubs - the infrastructure for a music business is already here. So there is already a lot of African music on television, but the infrastructure for putting music on television is still growing.

Africa needs to use all available technologies - newspapers, radio, internet, television, cell phones - to have their place in the global market, to speak with the rest of the world. And I think music is the example that other media can look up to. We African musicians have already been talking with the rest of the world for a long time now. We started the dialogue and now it's time for others to join us.