Balla Sidibé

Orchestra Baobab founder BORN 1942

A policeman by day, Balla Sidibé was poached from Dakar’s Star Band in 1970 to be one of the founders of the house band at the prestigious Club Baobab in 1970. And it was after a day’s rehearsal for Orchestra Baobab’s 50th anniversary tour that the singer, percussionist and writer of their 1978 hit On Verra Ça first complained of feeling unwell. For more than a decade, Baobab had dominated Senegal’s airwaves, playing songs that wove Cuban son into the rhythms of West Africa, until they were supplanted by Youssou N’Dour’s new mbalax sound. Twenty years later, however, Baobab reunited, prompted by N’Dour and World Circuit, the label that had reissued their 1982 album Pirates Choice, and with Sidibé at the helm, their star rose once again, 2002’s Specialist In All Styles proving they had lost none of their old-school magic.

David Hutcheon