ORCHESTRA BAOBAB
Cohan Center, San Luis Obispo, CA
April 29, 2004
(May 1, 2004)
When the ten members of Orchestra Baobab took to the stage, they really looked like they had just walked in off the street. It could have been a street in Dakar today, or in Detroit circa 1972, but there wasn't much to hint that this was a Funkadelic from a parallel world.
The sense of a bunch of guys off the street never totally let up, either. Throughout the 90 minute performance, musicians would wander on and off the stage and engage one another in casual chat, never seeming to take themselves too seriously. The amazing thing is that the music, the deep grooves and awe-inspiring interplay, never let up or missed a beat for the organised chaos the band presented.
Of the ten musicians - three singers, three guitarists, two drummers and two saxophonists - the majority are original members from the ‘70s. For the energetic show they put on, you'd never guess these were guys in their 50s and 60s. The singing was intense and soulful, the rhythms impossible to ignore, but the undeniable stars were guitarist Barthelemy Attisso and saxist Issa Cissocko. Attisso is a breathtakingly masterful, introspective artist. He had to be nudged into the spotlight occasionally, but his haunting, bell-like solos could bring tears to your eyes even when he was playing them from a dark corner. Cissocko was just the opposite, strutting across the stage, inciting both audience and fellow band members to get down, and seemingly shaking the most blistering runs from his horn.
The Cohan Center is a concert hall, a sort of smallish opera house, but when the band announced that the next number was to be the "best part," and implored the audience to get up and dance during an impassioned rendering of "Bul Ma Miin" from Specialist in All Styles, very few resisted the call. A few rows in front of me was a white-haired gentleman in a yarmulke (!) shaking it like he was James Brown. For a few glorious moments, it felt like a hot, sweaty club somewhere in downtown Dakar, and that is perhaps the greatest compliment I can offer.
Recommended recordings:
Specialist in All Styles: 2002 recording from the reformed band. The best souvenir of their current live show.
Pirate's Choice: Classic 1982 album, includes the all-time great "Utrus Horas." Though their popular heyday was already behind them, this album captures the original group at an artistic peak.
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Page Last Modified on: May 1, 2004