RFI Musique - - Album review

Album review

Baaba Maal

Television

Paris

11/08/2009 -

Baaba Maal deliberated at length over the making of his latest album, Television, and the Senegalese music star was not afraid to stick his neck out and try something new. Television finds Maal moving away from traditional West African inspiration and boldly venturing into electro territory with trendy New York trio The Brazilian Girls.

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When Baaba Maal flew out to Philadelphia to work in a studio owned by the American rap group The Roots, he was already committed to developing an innovative new sound. His mission ? To inject Television with a certain "warmth" which he claims is generally missing from records made by African artists. Meanwhile, the Senegalese singer was on the look-out for different musical collaborators who could put a new spin on his songs. It was the Irish producer Barry Reynolds (who worked with Maal a decade before on his album Nomad Soul and who happens to be a close friend and colleague of Chris Blackwell's) who came up with the idea of introducing the Senegalese singer to The Brazilian Girls.

Maal's encounter with the New York trio proved to be a fruitful one, encouraging him to introduce an experimental electronic edge to his acoustic guitar and drums. The Senegalese singer adopted his preferred working method when writing material with Didi Gutman and Sabina Sciubba, insisting that the three of them sit down for a lengthy discussion, exchanging ideas like people talking naturally in a living room. The album's title track - originally called L’Homme dans la télé when it appeared in a different version on the 2008 album International riche Afrique !!! along with two other tracks from Television - was apparently born out of a discussion about television's growing influence in Africa.

The title track sets the musical and thematic tone for the rest of the album (which comes in at barely 42 minutes long). Highpoints include some amazing vocal harmonies between Sabina Sciubba and Maal as they skip deftly from one language to another. Baaba Maal's new album, which is distinctly more "electro-pop" than "Afro-trad" this time round, was mixed by veteran producer Jerry Boys (renowned for his work with Buena Vista Social Club.) Aided and abetted by such a crack musical team, the Senegalese star has come up with an album which will surprise fans without disorientating them altogether !