Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
For people who know their Senegalese music, Orchestra Baobab's Pirates Choice is the Holy Grail. By the time this music was recorded to four-track in 1982, the immensely popular band had been playing nightly for years at a Dakar club called Baobab. But legendary status in Senegal didn't help the musicians get wider attention--the album wasn't released in Europe until 1987, and it only now comes to the U.S. for the first time. Latin music was popular in Dakar, a port city, and the band mixed various strains of Latin music with different African music styles to create uniformly stunning results not all that different from Afro-Cuban music. The French vocals are lovely, and the powerful mix of African and Latin percussion is undeniable--but keep a particular ear out for guitarist Barthelemy Attisso, whose tasteful leads float over the top. The original six-track album is hard to pass up, but this reissue contains a second disk with six unreleased songs from the same session, making this a must-have. --Tad Hendrickson









Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

---

Related Items:
     see more

Related Items:

• Specialist in All Styles
• Made in Dakar
• Bamba
• A Night at Club Baobab
• Dimanche a Bamako
• see more

---

Disc 1:

1. Utrus Horas - Orchestra Baobab, Gomis, Rudolphe
2. Coumba - Orchestra Baobab, Gomis, Rudolphe
3. Ledi Ndieme M'Bodj - Orchestra Baobab, Dieng, Ndiouga
4. Werente Serigne - Orchestra Baobab, Dieng, Ndiouga
5. Ray M'Bele - Orchestra Baobab, Diallo, Medoune
6. Soldadi - Orchestra Baobab, Gomis, Rudolphe

Disc 2:

1. Ngalam - Orchestra Baobab, Seck, Mapenda
2. Toumaranke - Orchestra Baobab, Sidibe, Bala
3. Foire Internationale - Orchestra Baobab, Dieng, Ndiouga
4. La Rebellion - Orchestra Baobab, Diallo, Medoune
5. Ndiaga Niaw - Orchestra Baobab, Sidibe, Bala
6. Balla Daffe - Orchestra Baobab, Sidibe, Bala

Rating: - * SENEGALESE POP ... THIS IS A GREAT CD OF MUSIC FROM ORCHESTRA BAOBAB, A FAMOUS BAND IN SENEGAL, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN 1982, BUT THIS 2 CD SET INCLUDES MORE SONGS (SIX OF THEM)THAN THE ORIGINAL ALBUM CONTAINED. THE SONGS BLEND WEST AFRICAN, LATIN, AND JAZZ SOUNDS TOGETHER AND IT WORKS REALLY WELL. VERY LIGHT, BREEZY AND MELODIOUS SONGS, SUNG IN THE WOLOF OR ELSE IN THE MANDINKA LANGUAGE. BARTHELEMY ATTISSO IS A PRETTY FINE GUITAR PLAYER Rating: - * infectious groove ... Good stuff. Warning--You might get the urge to quit you job and wander West Africa. Rating: - * SMOOTH TO THE TOUCH ... this is an album that i can just enjoy a lazy day with. it has that feel for me of a day at the ocean where i have my lil cool drink and the migration of the gulls and i just get lost and forget the world. love it from beginning top end. you will too!!!! check it out!!!! Rating: - * One of the best albums I own... ... I knew nothing about the history of this album's lineup, and actually picked it up on a snap decision (rare for me these days) because I thought it looked interesting. It's not Cu-bop, it's not wholely Senegalese, and it's not Jazz, although it has elements of all three. I don't remember the names of the band members, but the guitarist alone makes the album worth buying. If I had to come up with an analogy, "Pirates Choice" is the "Souvlaki" of world music. Jimmy Buffett would kill to make an album this good. Absolutely essential. Rating: - * fantastic, but plagarizing kills one song ... let me say without a doubt volta is absolutely the s***, from their first disc to frances, it just goes from great to greater. i firmly believe they will lead all music that is tasteful in a new direction...a la every band that has done so in history. even their live show rocked harder than any other concert i have been to, and they were the only band on the bill! but i have to digress, now, hearing the first sign of unoriginality(?) out of their collective musical output. simply, track 3 is lifted right off another album by baobob orchestra- pirates choice. the very first song, "utrus horas" is exactly what mars volta plays in their afro-samba breakdown. NOT the rock-out part. but it is half of volta's song, and that says a lot. no homage is made to baobob, or any credits, or anything.....just a rip off of their jam. listen for yourself. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005UPF7/qid=1118244841/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-0483868-3287833?v=glance&s=music and that song goes on for 8 mins with various instrumental solos, just as volta does in their "rendition." let me know what you guys think about this.