Baaba Maal
on the role of music
in Africa’s conversation
with the world
In recent times, Babaa Maal has spent more time on stage than in the studio but he is not complaining; his passion is sharing Africa with the world. After curating the successful Africa Utopia, a month-long festival of music, theatre, film, literature and debates, he took to the stage with the legendary Hugh Masekela and Angelique Kidjo to celebrate African music with Londoners, and toured the British isles as part of African Express. Despite his busy schedule, Maal sat down to This Is Africa to talk about what Africa has to offer the world.
TIA: You have been busy, what compelled you to curate Africa Utopia?
Baaba Maal: The idea came about because the people from the Southbank Centre had seen my shows, and every show they saw was diverse. I always included elements that made it more than just my band and I, and they saw that this way of presenting music meant you were also presenting different aspects of culture. So, when we sat down to talk, I said to them, it is good for Africa not just to perform but to also talk. Talk to different people and places, we need to hear women and young people, writers and intellectuals talk about Africa in a way that people can pick up and share with others.
What was the story that you wanted the festival’s debates and talks, literature and music to tell the world about Africa?
I want them to see that Africa, more than any part of the world, has the ability to use culture to talk about itself, bring people together and discover important things. That we can use culture to project ourselves in terms of the future and maybe seeing how we want to be via culture can bring change where the continent is concerned. Yes, we have challenges, but at the same time there’s an energy in Africa that is more powerful than the problems and bring solutions, otherwise we would have fallen down a long time ago.
Africa Express - Euston Station (Babaa Maal front/centre behind Afrikan Boy. Credit - Simon Phipps & Africa Express)
You were involved with a number of events over the summer, from Africa Utopia, the BT Music River Festival and Africa Express – Why should a cultural capital like London embrace African artists and art from the continent?
I lived in Paris when it was the platform of and for African music, but what is interesting about England, especially London, is that it allows everyone who comes from different parts of the world to bring their art and be together without fighting with each other. It’s really an organic combination of people, it’ s like everyone is itching to learn more from each other. I think it presents a good opportunity because it’s the only place where people can come from different parts of Africa – Francophone, Anglophone and even the Portuguese-speaking parts – and find a way to be together. Everyone is excited to discover their neighbour, and sometimes you don’t have that on the continent. It’s very difficult for someone from Namibia to be connected to someone from Kenya, even though they are so close to each other on the continent. But in London, it can happen, and people can say “Yes! We are Africans. Yes, we have our culture, our knowledge and yes, we want to share it with the rest of the world, and yes we have to do it together”.
You have always been clear about your work transcending music and about your duty as an activist, you take on issues others might walk away from – from lending your voice to the HIV-Aids crisis to poverty, illiteracy and women’s rights. Have you ever been concerned about its impact on your musical career?
It always has an impact but what can you do when you are an African? You inspire yourself, add your talent and when you become known all over the world, you must ask yourself what you can bring back to benefit African people. Because if people are not emancipated, if they are not free from hunger and corruption, then I cannot say I have achieved anything when I am back there, because that’s where I live. I started doing my work before I met these big organisations. The name of my band is Daande Lenol, which means “Voice of the people”, and my community, which is in the north of Senegal, is where we started. It grew as we performed on stage after stage in different villages. The money we get was used on projects in the local school to buy tables for the classroom among others. We started little by little and people started to see the connection between culture, music and development, between music and standing up for good things, and we could not run away from that because I come from this community and they are proud to say he is one of us and his music is something that we live with, now what can we do with it? So that’s how it started. And I’m so happy to do it because when I go back I feel very proud to see that what people are giving back is much deeper and interesting than money or the recognition that I’m getting outside.
How, and in what ways, can more African artists, especially the men, join you and other artists like Oumou Sangare and Angelique Kidjo in promoting women’s rights?
We do (he laughs). For example, during Africa Utopia, we created a panel where people could talk about women’s concerns. We had one with Angelique Kidjo and some great women from Africa, and we brought them on board specifically to talk about women’s leadership on the continent. I have songs dedicated to women on my last album. One is A Song for Women and the other Tindo Quando, but it is also to say that we should not be afraid to let the women lead because right now, we can see that women on the continent have a greater ability than men to gather, be together and respect that fact. I don’t know why, but it’s what I see. And we should not be afraid to let women lead when it comes to politics, economy and culture.
A young generation of African music artists, from Nigeria to Mali all the way to South Africa, are on the rise internationally - we have the likes of D’Banj and Fatoumata Diawara, who was also part of Africa Express. What excites you about these new voices and at the same time what concerns you?
I’m proud and happy to see this development, especially the young women – like Asa from Nigeria. I see her and others coming after her and they all play instruments, which is very good for all African women because they were not allowed to touch these instruments before. And they speak different languages – English, French, and Spanish - and they know African music because they can talk about Fela, Salif Keita among others. At the same time, they are open to RnB, hip-hop and other contemporary styles, and they know what is going on in the US, and they are not frightened to work with anyone else in the world because they are equal to them. This is good because it means they are on the frontline. But at the same time, I would advise that they have something others don’t have – we have African elements that work for us – for example, we have images, colours and ceremonies that no one else has, which is something to think about when shooting videos. They should think about what things are uniquely African when they shoot. If they don’t do this, someone else will go there and pick up on these things, which is even easier now thanks to the internet. These artists must be conscious about preserving it because it’s their legacy.
What excites you about the current state of transitional leadership in Africa and what worries you about the continent’s political challenges?
As an African, I’m proud of what Senegal achieved, but at the same time frightened because of what can go wrong, despite our achievements. Mali comes from a great empire, and was a good example of a functioning democracy. Now if Mali is going through this kind of turbulence, I can’t say that we are really safe in Senegal because what’s happening in Mali is affecting people [Malians and Senegalese], and it’s not nice to see. We want to be proud and say yes, Africa is moving forward. But to see a country like Mali, which was not supposed to be caught up in this situation, experiencing what’s happening now, you say "Ah, maybe I’m safe this time but what happens next time?"
Earlier this year, you called on the world, in your role as an ambassador for Oxfam, to take action of over the food crisis in the Sahel region. Can you elaborate on the state of the crises you witnessed when you visited the region?
I thought I knew this region but I didn’t. When I went with Oxfam to some of these places, I was shocked. There were a lot of small villages where people are really suffering. I saw a woman called Halima with four children; she was quite young, so she may have married very young. Her husband is not around, so she is on her own with the children – I cannot call the place they live in a house - between them and the bush, there’s nothing. I asked if her children go to school and she told me the school was nearly two kilometres away, and said “I’m not interested in that. I’m more interested in finding something to feed my children and when they are sick, to try and find a solution to help them get well again.” That’s how desperate they are, and she was not alone because in every village, 70 percent of the population are vulnerable families, and if you don’t help them, if there is no rain, I think something bad is going to happen.
The last night of Africa Utopia was the crowning glory with your energetic and infectious performance. It was the same at the BT River of Music Festival and Africa Express. What’s the message and new narrative about Africa that you hope and would like audiences to take away the African-focused cultural events you helped to create and were part of in 2012?
That culture is leading the continent and we can see some good changes. We know that we are passing through some turbulence but we can move on from that. Africa still has a lot of things to offer and people should not be afraid to come and share with Africa, but they also need to support what we are trying to achieve in Africa.
Thank you.
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