Baaba Maal: The Traveller

Richard Gehr on March 24, 2016

Mumford, or perhaps one of his sons, spiels convincingly about mankind’s addiction to armed conflict in “War,” the penultimate song on longtime Senegalese star Baaba Maal’s energetic and electrified The Traveller. The subsequent “Peace,” however, inverts the message with the same words and different music. The Very Best’s Johan Hugo worked with Maal on this intermittently incendiary fusion of tough West African beats and ye olde electro. It doesn’t always work, but Maal gives it his all, often disappearing into the info-overloaded fabric. Music very much of its time, in other words.

Artist: Baaba Maal
Album: The Traveller
Label: +180 Records