Baaba Maal - Hope for Africa

Musicians have the power to effect change in Africa

Click here to watch the full interview

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called Africa a "scar on the conscience of the world". He has expressed his determination to use his leadership of the G8 and the European Union this year to bring positive change in Africa.

As a result, Africa is once more at the top of the international agenda. And it's not just politicians who want their say on how Africa can be helped - artists want their say too.

Baaba Maal is one such artist, and he told Hardtalk Extra that he doesn't want the current focus on Africa to be just "a phase". He also said that he doesn't like Africa's "hopeless" image, since he knows the "joy" of the African people in their day-to-day lives. This is what he strives to express in his music, especially in his live performances, which he takes around the world.

Maal told Hardtalk: "I'm just an artist, I didn't expect to arrive at this level, but if I can help to change anything I will always be ready to do it."

Baaba Maal - Voice for Africa

Baaba Maal was born to the Hal Pulaar people (known to the English speaking world as Fulani), in Podor, northern Senegal.

He was not born into the traditional Fulani musical caste, the griots. But he was inspired by his mother's love of traditional songs, and by listening to his father regularly make the muezzin's call to prayer at his village mosque.

I'm just an artist, I didn't expect to arrive at this level Baaba Maal

Even though he can fill out massive concert halls in the West, Baaba Maal continues to tour the remote Fulani villages of northern Senegal and southern Mauritania. It allows him to keep in touch with the youth of Senegal, as well as the influential village elders.

HIV action

It is notoriously difficult for western aid organisations to change sexual behaviour in African communities, even though this is an essential part of the fight against AIDS.

Many so-called educational HIV "interventions" in African communities have had disappointing results.

As Alex de Waal, director of Justice Africa, has said: "perhaps the scarcest resource is the energy and charisma of an effective peer educator".

In the case of Senegal, nobody could be better suited to fulfil this role than Baaba Maal. He is passionate about Africa's fight against HIV/Aids. As a respected artist, he has a status similar to the "marabout", a teacher and priest-like figure.

Baaba Maal told Hardtalk Extra that one of the main problems is that "information does not arrive at the right places". In the past, pamphlets about HIV were only available in English or French, which most villagers could not read.

Maal told Gavin Esler that musicians can communicate "the reality of HIV/AIDS in their concerts".

One problem facing villages is that those people with HIV are isolated from the community out of fear. Maal said that Africa needed to draw on its centuries-old traditions of hospitality, which demanded that you "do not leave behind someone who is sick".

Senegal has been one of the most successful countries in west African fighting HIV infection. But a continued programme of education from figures like Baaba Maal is essential to maintain this trend.

As the United Nations Development Programme's youth emissary to western Africa, Baaba Maal has made sure that HIV, and other crucial development issues, have kept a high media profile.

HARDtalk Extra can be seen on Fridays on BBC World at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 18:30 GMT and 23:30 GMT.

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 04:30 and 23:30

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