If a great music festival mixes nostalgia with innovation, the first night of the Africa Utopia festival ticked all the boxes. Orchestra Baobab were the heroes of the Dakar dance scene back in the 70s until their lilting fusion of West African and Cuban styles was overtaken by the furious mbalax of Youssou N’Dour. Here the 10 veterans were introduced on stage by another Senegalese celebrity Baaba Maal, who described listening to them on the radio when he was at school. He later joined them for the lilting Sutukun from their glorious 2002 comeback album Specialist in All Styles.
They have released only one album of new material since then – Made in Dakar, eight years ago – and they haven’t played in the UK for three years. So it was perhaps not surprising that they started off sounding slow and stately, but soon rediscovered their old vitality, cheered along by an audience who were on their feet from the start.
Although they were without their lead guitarist, Barthélemy Attisso – a Dakar lawyer currently busy with a case – the three-part vocals were as tight as ever, and there was fine playing from the brass section, including the ever-eccentric but brilliant Issa Cissokho, the only Baobab member not dressed in a suit. The songs were mostly taken from the last two albums, though the upbeat Outi Khaliss provided a taste of the long-awaited new album, promised for next year.
Blick Bassy, who opened, gave a masterclass in contemporary African fusion. He’s from Cameroon, lives in France, and mixed West African styles with American blues and jazz, in a trio that matched his banjo against (mostly) plucked cello and trombone. He was an entertaining, original performer with a remarkable voice that could switch from the high, cool and soulful to a gutsy rasp. And he was even better live than on his new album.
