Baaba Maal: Live at the Royal Festival Hall
Baaba Maal has been described as Senegal's greatest singer Ð the young lion of Afro-pop, stirring funk, rap, reggae, Celtic and Cuban ingredients into his African mix producing a rich blend of music.
Member Reviews
Magnificent! - fornjot
For a long time the very negative review posted here dissuaded me from putting this on my ziplist. People have different likes, and I am very grateful to the second reviewer. This show just blew me away - and though it is full of brilliant playing, it is a show as much as it is music, a spectacular one, beautifully orchestrated, rich with an infectious good spirit. Baaba Maal has a small village of very talented musicians on stage with him (they make the intricate fingering and drumming look so easy), and guests like the great Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin. Melodies and rhythms change within a song, and change again, fluid and unpredictable, building wonderfully. The dancing is stunning, like nothing I've ever seen before, very exciting to watch. Baaba Maal learned much while a member of a 70-piece orchestra in Dakar and later studied at the Conservatoire des Beaux Arts in Paris. Beethoven, Bach, Bernstein, Ellington, no one has anything on this guy as a composer, and the performance of it all is impeccable. My son says African music makes western pop sound simple and primitive. If you zip this, you'll see what he means.High-energy Afro-pop - gnox
I've been listening to Baaba Maal for 20 years or so but never saw him in concert, so this DVD is welcome. This is certainly not North American top-40 music, so i guess it takes an open ear to appreciate the Senagalese style of music-making. The dancing is wildly exuberant (not tightly choreographed as the previous reviewer would apparently prefer), and many of the band members are given a chance to take extended solo breaks, which they do wonderfully. The film editing is the weak point here, with many odd cuts and far too many quick cuts from camera to camera. But the sound is quite adequate, though it could be better balanced. The extras are a bit skimpy but the "Interview" short is worth watching. If you're a Baaba Maal fan or just have a passing interest in African music, you won't be disappointed with this rental.Bad concert bad movie - Tatiana
This isn't a famous director making a music movie, but there nothing to the movie part anyway; bad sound no backstage connections and just a simple recording of an event. So just sit back and enjoy the music right? Wrong. The musicians were loose, the music uninteresting and the show itself had no presentation.
Member Reviews
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Magnificent! - fornjot
For a long time the very negative review posted here dissuaded me from putting this on my ziplist. People have different likes, and I am very grateful to the second reviewer. This show just blew me away - and though it is full of brilliant playing, it is a ...High-energy Afro-pop - gnox
I've been listening to Baaba Maal for 20 years or so but never saw him in concert, so this DVD is welcome. This is certainly not North American top-40 music, so i guess it takes an open ear to appreciate the Senagalese style of music-making. The dancing is ...Bad concert bad movie - Tatiana
This isn't a famous director making a music movie, but there nothing to the movie part anyway; bad sound no backstage connections and just a simple recording of an event. So just sit back and enjoy the music right? Wrong. The musicians were loose, the music ...