The key facts

  • The album 'Made in Senegal' will be released on Friday — the band's first album of new songs since 2017
  • About half of the 12 songs are new compositions
  • Vocalist Korka Dieng, who joined in 2023, is the first and only woman in the orchestra's history

Half a Century on Stage and a New Album

Senegal's legendary Orchestra Baobab, playing a blend of Afro-Cuban music and West African traditions, will release the album 'Made in Senegal' on Friday — its first record of new songs in nearly ten years. The band, founded in 1970, dominated Dakar's club scene and airwaves, then went on hiatus and returned in the early 2000s, achieving international fame. According to AFP, the group, named after the baobab tree, remains on stage largely thanks to a new generation of musicians gradually replacing the veterans.

A Changing of the Generations

The nine-member lineup includes veterans and young musicians, mostly aged 30–40. 76-year-old rhythm guitarist Yahya Fall told AFP that the new music carries 'a freshness, something new, something exceptional that listeners had never heard from the founders.' Vocalist Korka Dieng, who began singing with the orchestra in 2023, became its first and only female member. According to her, the young musicians bring their own contributions but strive to 'preserve the identity that brought the legendary orchestra to where it is today.' 73-year-old percussionist Mountaga 'Taga' Koite, the last member of the original lineup, expressed hope that the youth 'will secure a whole century for Baobab.'

In Memory of the Departed Masters

The young musicians have replaced veterans who have passed away. Guitarist 'Bolero' Lagratte, 37, the longest-serving of the newcomers, replaced one of the founders, Barthelemy Attisso, who died in 2021. In the early 2020s, singer-percussionists Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis passed away, and shortly before them the renowned saxophonist Issa Cissoko. The band's last album of new songs, 'Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng' from 2017, was dedicated to the late founding vocalist. Taga Koite, according to AFP, listed how each new musician flawlessly took the predecessor's place: 'Nothing has changed for me.'

New Songs and a Tour Across the Country

Of the 12 songs on 'Made in Senegal,' about half are new compositions, and the vast majority had not previously appeared on Baobab albums. Among them are 'Gorgorlou' by trombonist and tenor saxophonist Wilfried Zinsou (48), whose title in Wolof refers to a person who works hard to make ends meet, and 'Wida' by Lagratte, referencing the historic slave-trading port in his native Benin and its 'door of no return.' Orchestra leader Thierno Koite, Taga's brother, said at a press conference on Tuesday that the band plans a series of concerts outside Dakar — for the first time in its history it has never toured the regions of Senegal. Zinsou called the orchestra a national treasure: 'People look at Senegal through us. Those who don't know Senegal see the country through Orchestra Baobab.'

Live Concerts in Dakar

At a recent Sunday concert at Dakar's Just For You club, the audience danced at their tables until the long wail of a saxophone in the anthem 'Utrus Horas' made the room surge forward. 62-year-old fan Mustapha Samb told AFP that he has been dancing to Orchestra Baobab since he was 15–16 and still does, calling the band 'a monument, an embodiment of memory and resilience' for Senegal. According to Dieng, listeners 'are beginning to understand that Orchestra Baobab is not just old school. There is a new generation.' Taga Koite added that even today 'as soon as Baobab's music starts playing, people get up and dance.'