Tour Dates

04/14/10 Filling Station Bozeman, MT
04/15/10 Elks Lodge Missoula, MT
04/16/10 Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR
04/17/10 Tractor Tavern Seattle, WA
04/18/10 WOW Hall Eugene, OR
04/19/10 Humboldt Brewery Arcata, CA
04/20/10 Independent SF, CA
04/21/10 Moe’s Alley Santa Cruz, CA
04/22/10 Mint Los Angeles, CA
04/24/10 Stagecoach Festival CA
05/11/10 Knickerbockers Lincoln, NE
05/12/10 Hodi’s Halfnote Ft Collins, CO
05/13/10 Belly Up Aspen, CO
05/14/10 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
05/24/10 Beachland Cleveland, OH
05/26/10 Mercury Lounge New York
05/27/10 Middle East Cambridge, MA
05/28/10 DelFest Cumberland, MD
05/29/10 DelFest Cumberland, MD
05/31/10 Pour House Raleigh, NC
06/01/10 Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
06/02/10 Smith’s Olde Bar Atlanta, GA
06/03/10 Levitt Shell Memphis, TN
06/04/10 Wakarusa Fesitval AR
06/05/10 Wakarusa Fesitval AR
07/03/10 High Sierra Music CA
07/04/10 High Sierra Music CA

Baaba Maal is from Podor, West Africa, and primarily sings in Senegalese. From my understanding, it’s not a popular language, but that did not matter at Sunday’s night at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. By request from the band, that show was standing room only, with only a tiny section to have seats. Also, the “no camera” signs were also taken down and a ton of people were either taking photos of filming the performance. Quite a different experience than the typical Cedar show.

There was no opening band, but with over twelve albums under his belt there was no shortage of Senegalese songs for the next two hours of performance. It started off slow with Baaba Maal in a seat, playing guitar and singing, but after three or four songs, the seat was taken away and Maal spent the rest of the show moving and dancing and singing.

Even though I had no idea what was being sung, I get the impression, based on hearing Maal’s stories, that the songs are his experiences, about the earth, the sun, the moon. Also, it should be noted that Maal’s English is actually not bad, despite his very distinctive accent.

What made this tour exciting is that he’s joined on stage by at LEAST 10 band members serving a variety of drums, bass, electric guitar, keys, and hoddu.

If I were to hazard a guess, there were some new songs from Baaba Maal’s latest release, Television, were played. I cannot be sure, because from what I’ve read, the new album is a weird mix of electronica and traditional Africano rhythem, courtesy of his collaboration with singer Sabina Sciubba and keyboardist Didi Gutman.

The album, Television, is out now on Palm Records, be sure to see them if you like world music.