In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Orchestra Baobab—one of Africa’s most celebrated dance bands—World Circuit Records is reissuing the group’s seminal 2002 reunion album Specialist In All Styles on vinyl for the first time ever. The reissue is out Sept 25.
Along with the announcement the group is premiering a live performance of the song “Jiin Ma Jiin Ma” from their 2015 show at the Jazz à Vienne Festival in France, check it out below…
Specialist In All Styles was the first album by the full group since 1982’s legendary Pirate’s Choice, a holy grail for African music fans. Recorded at London’s Livingston Studios in just ten days and produced by World Circuit’s Nick Gold with Youssou N’Dour, Specialist In All Styles is a definitive illustration of Baobab’s Afro-Latin magic, introducing new material and reinventing some of the old tunes that made them famous.
The record features Baobab’s sublime rhythm section and two of the most distinctive sounds in African music: Barthélemy Attisso’s extraordinary guitar and Issa Cissokho’s atmospheric sax. The band’s five unique lead singers, each with their own contrasting but complementary styles, are joined on the song “Hommage à Tonton Ferrer” by special guests Buena Vista Social Club star Ibrahim Ferrer and Youssou N’Dour.
The band owes their start to the entrepreneurial force that was Ibra Kassé, club owner, impresario and founder of the Star Band, whose residency at Dakar’s Club Miami in the late ’60s made it a notoriously lively joint. Here, Kassé’s band lit up the night with a music flavored by rhythms from around the world, all flowing into Dakar—one of the great ports of west Africa—from America, Europe and Cuba, as well as Senegal’s West African neighbors Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. This eclectic combination of rhythms and styles would all later feed into Baobab’s DNA.
