Baaba Maal - Baayo

Baaba Maal Baaba comes from humble beginnings . Born in 1954 in a small Senegalese village, Not born into the Griot caste (musicians) he disregarded this and has become a large International World music star. His music came from traditional sounds as well as American R&B and soul, later discovering jazz and blues (James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Etta James and later Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff).

When he moved to Dakar he joined a 70-piece orchestra and spent a lot of his time with them learning as much as he could about the local musical instruments and how they worked. He later toured West Africa with his guitarist friend Mansour Seck .