Track Listing

1. Bul A Miin
2. Sutukun
3. Dee Moo Woor
4. Jiin Ma Jiin Ma
5. Ndongoy Daara
6. On Veera Ca
7. Hommage A Tonton Ferrer
8. El Son Te Llama
9. Gnawoe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6764 in Music
• Released on: 2002-09-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Comeback albums are usually disastrous, but Specialist in All Styles proves a happy exception to that unfortunate music-industry rule. In the 20 years since the uniquely multi-ethnic Orchestra Baobab made their last album, their members have been scattered throughout Senegal and other parts of West Africa. Their inimitable guitarist Barthélemy Attisso was making a living as a lawyer in Togo. Talk about a waste of talent! Back in his rightful profession, he has lost none of his trademark fluid elegance. The other great instrumentalist who gave such a distinctive flavour to their languid Afro-Latin grooves was tenor saxophonist Issa Cissokho. Both are back in the fold along with most of the original regular members, including five vocalists. Over half the songs have appeared on the band's previous international releases. Some, such as "Bul Ma Mine", "Gnawe" and "On Verra Ça", are fairly faithful, lovingly crafted updates. In contrast, the classic "Utru Horas" reappears as "Hommage à Tonton Ferrer", featuring guest vocals from Ibrahim Ferrer and Youssou N'Dour and the coda from Africando's fabulous bolero "Gouye Gui", presumably a nod to singer Medoune Diallo's membership of both bands. There are also old hits, such as "Sutukun" and "Dee Moo Wor", which will only be familiar to their Senegalese fan base, and only a little new material, but wallowing in nostalgia has seldom sounded sweeter. --Jon Lusk

Album Description
Two decades after they disbanded, one of the greatest African bands of all time is back in business with its original line-up and a new landmark album. After a 20-year gap, during which time their recordings have attained legendary status, Senegalese masters Orchestra Baobab release the long-awaited Specialist in All Styles on World Circuit. Their unique and uplifting Afro-Latin hybrid, tinged with reggae and an eclectic mix of influences owes everything to the cosmopolitan nature of the band, which includes musicians from all around Senegal and beyond.

This is the first album by the full group since 1982, and is a realisation of a long-term ambition for World Circuit. The group's Pirates Choice was one of the first African albums that inspired Nick Gold to set up the label and ignited his lifelong passion for both West African and Cuban music. He has been attempting to reunite the group ever since World Circuit first rereleased Pirates Choice in 1989.

Recorded live in the studio over just 10 days, Specialist In All Styles was produced by Nick Gold with World Circuit's engineer Jerry Boys and Youssou N'Dour completing the production team. The involvement of Youssou was particularly poignant, for it was the explosion of mbalax--the new Senegalese dance sound he pioneered with Super Etoile de Dakar in the early-80s--that created the change in musical fashion that led indirectly to Baobab's break-up. The band played as if they had never been apart, generating an edge, energy and exuberance that derived from old friends coming together and enjoying the experience of playing again. The resulting album is a milestone in African music--an inspired, diverse and entirely contemporary take on Baobab's original Afro-Latin magic, introducing new material and reinventing some of the old tunes that made them a legend. The album is randomly supplied in either yellow or blue, depending on stock.

CD Description
Senegalese Orchestra Baobab was among the foremost practitioners of the Afro-Cuban style that became popular in its part of the world in the 1970s. Years later, when more electric, rock/pop-influenced music took over Africa, the group disbanded after an unsuccessful attempt at updating their sound.It would oversimplify things to say that the success of their 2001 reunion made these comeback kings seem like Senegal's answer to the Buena Vista Social Club, but it's also hard to deny. Sounding fully invigorated on their reunion album, SPECIALIST IN ALL STYLES, Orchestra Baobab proudly displays the old-school musical values that made them so popular 30 years earlier.

Customer Reviews

Sexy, jazzy, smile-making musicianship
From the very first few bars of Bul Ma Miin you can't help but close your eyes and sway to the beat.
The consummate musicianship of vocalists Deing, Mbouf and others are matched and surpassed by the guitar of Attisso and the sax of Koite. But, to single out certain band members is unfair, because it's the totality, the assuredness of the ensemble which makes you smile and dance.
So, what sort of music is it? Well, it's jazz, it's Cuban, it's African, it's everything which describes sunshine at a party with your favourite friends.
I think I'll be playing this and only this for the next month!

Hot African Music
I chose this CD as album of the month for an online music club after I saw them on the Jools Holland show on BBC2. To picture their music, just imagine that Paul Simon and Youssou N'Dour were asked to play the music for Fidel Castro's birthday party. Their music is definitely African but has serous echoes of the Cuban style, like an Afro-Buena Vista Social Club.

A lot of the lyrics are in French, probably due to the Senegalese cononial history. The music is full of life and conjours images of sitting on a beach among the palm trees siping cocktails. Their music is distinctly African in origin, give or take the odd trumpet or sax. There are also modern influences too, half way through the first track "Bulmamiin" (my favourite) the brilliant guitar style is heavily influenced by western music - listen to track 1 and tell me that you never thought of The Shdaows 3-step walk. The african percussion is bordering on the hypnotic and is a joy to listen to. Yet the sleeve notes hint at a higher cause for their music making - the song are written along important social themes that are missed by those of us who can't understand the language of the lyrics; themes including a dying parent, anti-corruption messages and the importance of having "good character".
I love this CD. I play it in the car every day on the way to work, much better than listening to local traffic reports!

Music to make you smile and dance.
Sorry i stole the title from the "music fan from London"'s review. Have to say i think you're review is spot on. Saw them at the Cambridge folk-festival this year whilst drinking a bottle of red wine smiling an swaying with hundreds of others. Bought the cd of course but was a bit worried that the happy memory was mainly due to the effect of the red wine...but oh boy, was i wrong !! This album never fails to make me smile and want to get up and start dancing...even on a miserable December morning in Cambridge...and even if i haven't got a clue what the French lyrics really mean!