Dakar Star: Orchestra Baobab is the real Social Club deal

Photo by Jonas Karlsson

Remember when, 10 or so years ago, the world music album that everyone had to have in their collection was Buena Vista Social Club? That's the way it ought to be for Orchestra Baobab today. But for lots of reasons, the African-music comeback story of the past decade hasn't gone viral the way the old-school Cuban-revival did. Still, there would be a lot less meaningful ways for you and your friends to drop $13 than to spring for the new Baobab CD, Made in Dakar, or even double that for tickets to see this phenomenal band when it plays live in the Bay Area over the next several nights.

Granted, there may be no Ry Cooder hook to snag the uninitiated (although superstar Youssou N'Dour has his hand and voice in this story); and the African continent throws a lot of pop star power our way to keep our short attention spans occupied; and Dakar, the port capital of Senegal, doesn't resonate with romantic intrigue for most of us the way Havana does; but Orchestra Baobab, which began life nearly 40 years ago as the house band at Club Baobab, has enough Cuban feel to please fans of the late Compay Segundo, Rubén González and Ibrahim Ferrer, plus there's lead guitarist Barthélemy Attisso unraveling solos that rival B.B. King, Peter Green and Carlos Santana for fluid emotional expression, and original singer/percussionists Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis as well as Wolof singer Ndiouga Dieng (added "recently" in the mid-1970s) casting indelible vocal spells and inducing ecstatic swoons.

Founded by core members saxophonist Baro N'Diaye and bassist Sidathe Ly, the band recorded a score of LPs between 1970 and 1985, ranking with the Star Band, Bembeya Jazz and the Rail Band as a leading light of West African pop. But it wasn't until Nick Gold (the producer behind Buena Vista Social Club) secured the legal rights to the 1982 cassette Pirates Choice and reissued it on CD in 1989 and again in 2001 that Orchestra Baobab had reason to reform, record a new CD, 2002's Specialist in All Styles, and tour the world. Made in Dakar will never challenge Buena Vista Social Club as the best-selling world music album of all time, but one feel-good story deserves another, and this is the best you'll hear for some time.

After its two nights at Yoshi's in San Francisco, this 11-piece roots-pop powerhouse moves over to Yoshi's in Oakland and then loops down to Santa Cruz and up to Napa. The itinerary is here, on the, yes, official Orchestra Baobab MySpace page.