Senegal's capital, on a peninsular sticking into the Atlantic Ocean, is Africa's westernmost point. It's a large, teeming city of over a million people with a strong influence from France, the former colonial power, in architecture and culture. Musically, Senegal is one of Africa's powerhouses with the names of Youssou N'Dour, Baaba Maal, Ismail Lo and Cheikh Lo known around the world.

Dakar's musical life is a late-night activity centered on a handful a clubs dotted around the city featuring live bands from midnight to around 4am. Since the early '80s it's been the sound of mbalax that has powered the Senegalese music scene, driven by the complicated rhythmic patterns of the sabar and tama drums and animated by outrageous dances.

Baaba Maal is actually a country boy, from Podor, a small town on the Senegal River which forms Senegal's northern border with Mauritania. He's had a long-term musical partnership with Mansour Seck, a guitarist and griot (from one of Senegal's musical dynasties) also from Podor. It was with Seck that he toured and recorded the album Djam Leeli, a beautiful recording of voice and guitar that got him noticed in the West. Maal has a magnificent voice and he's a singer with a message. He has been active working for the UN Development Programme on AIDS in Africa and has contributed to the 2002 recent tribute to the late Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, the AIDS awareness album, Red Hot and Riot.

BBC Web Links

Profile of Baaba Maal