it s just coming to this natural way of playing music. maybe it s a kind of reflecting of the first way i was writing songs, where i was much more relaxed, not under pressure, not in a hurry, just taking a lot of pleasure of being into a studio, sitting in the middle of a garden and picking up my guitar and playing music, and songs comes naturally and i think this is what i was looking for in this album. you re a star of world music and you tour the world playing your music, but would you say that your music is still very much rooted in podor, your home town in northern senegal and the fishing community that you came from and the very sort of local place that your music was founded in? yeah, it has its own place, my region into my music,
new things to feel on their skin or on their bone when they want to write songs. but at the same time, i always say that my goal is to take this african music and to show it to the rest of the world, that that is also their music, and this music also can bring something to learn from it, something to share in their life and to find solutions of their problems. well, i m delighted, baaba, that you mentioned the blues of the river festival, which is sort of created. which you sort of created. it takes place in podor, your home town in northern senegal, which is quite remote but. very remote. ..many people want to be there every year. now, in your latest album, being, you have a track freak out which actually includes some wonderful images of you being at the blues of the river festival in podor i believe it is from a couple of years ago.
you describe yourself these days as an elder. does it mean your music is sort of changing as you gain more and more experience and wisdom? it s not changing at all. it s just coming to this natural way of playing music. maybe it s a kind of reflecting of the first way i was writing songs, where i was much more relaxed, not under pressure, not in a hurry, just taking a lot of pleasure of being into a studio, sitting in the middle of a garden and picking up my guitar and playing music, and songs comes naturally and i think this is what i was looking for in this album. you re a star of world music and you tour the world playing your music, but would you say that your music is still very much rooted in podor, your home town in northern senegal and the fishing community that you came from and the very sort of local place that your music
of what we re talking about that marriage of tradition and modernity and the musicalfusions as well. what really strikes me is the excitement of young people. does your music today still excite the young people of your home? it does, and i m very surprised. but at the same time, i think these people, the young ones, are really, really interested about the journey that i have been taking since a long time, trying to represent them in the rest of the world and bringing back something that can make the platform for them to discuss with me, to talk amongst themselves, to see the experiences and to know exactly what they want to do, what they have to do and their responsibility. if i may, there is a big difference growing up in podor today from when you grew up there because then, your entertainment was the local music, the local cultural traditions.
of the river festival in podor i believe it is from a couple of years ago. what we d like to do is have everybody, have a listen, have a look at what it means for baaba maal to return to his own community. okay. let s have a look at this. freak out by baaba maal plays. wonderful images there, baaba, which i think get to the heart