Attisso, the whole Orchestra Baobab story started in the Plateau, a part of the Senegalese capital Dakar.
Barthélemy Attisso: "Yes, the Plateau is the part of the city where the upper-class hangs out. The Baobab Club was opened there with the intention of becoming an exclusive hangout. It was a nightclub with a very distinctive interior (it had a bar in the shape of a baobab tree, red.) and we were lucky enough to be chosen to play there. We had to entertain a very demanding public from all different kinds of nationalities."
What happened to the Baobab Club? Does it still exist today?
Barthélemy Attisso: "The Baobab Club was a complex that consisted of a snack bar, a discotheque and a restaurant. As I just said, it was a really exclusive place. Unfortunately, it was only in existence for a couple of years."
Let's turn to your music for a moment; it's a mix of elements from traditional West-African music and lots of influences from Cuban or Latin music.
Barthélemy Attisso: "Yes, exactly. When we started out, there were already several groups out there playing Afro-Cuban music with influences from pachanga or salsa. In the beginning, we just copied what they were doing, but gradually we started to integrate certain elements borrowed from traditional Senegalese music. That was not that difficult because the group benefitted from the presence of Lay M'Boup, a traditional singer or griot with a very large repertory. Eventually we also started to experiment with Congolese, Ghanaian and Guinean rhythms and even influences from western genres like rhythm & blues or soul. We were sort of forced to do that, because we were playing for a very demanding audience at the club, people who always wanted something fresh. Personally, I did my best to copy my favourite guitar players; people like B.B. King, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery or Carlos Santana, and not forgetting the African greats like Franco or Nico (Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikalay, popularly known as Dr. Nico, was a guitarist, composer and one of the pioneers of soukous music, red.)."
How and where did you learn to play the guitar?
Barthélemy Attisso: "I kind of entered the music business out of necessity. I wanted to study and work at the same time, but because I had to be in class during the day, I had to find myself something I could do at night. I first got the idea of becoming a musician when I discovered that some of the musicians I saw playing in the nightclubs I frequented, worked as bank clerks or civil servants during the day. I just bought a guitar and an instruction booklet and taught myself how to play. It took me about two years to perfect my play to a certain level, and I haven't regretted learning to play for a second since."
You have a lawyer's degree, a job you returned to after the group split up. How difficult a decision was it to leave that career behind again when you decided to rejoin the reformed band at the end of the nineties?
Barthélemy Attisso: "Well, you have to know that I was more or less tricked into it. When I was first asked to join the band again, there was only talk of recording one album. After that was finished, it quickly became clear that a big promo tour was to follow and at that moment I decided to be loyal with the other band members and stick with it. After all, it was this music that paid for my law studies!"
The musicians in Orchestra Baobab come from all over West-Africa. Did that mix of nationalities contribute in creating the sound that today is so uniquely Orchestra Baobab?
Barthélemy Attisso: "President Senghor, the first president of Senegal, always said cultural and racial mixing would be the way of the future. Combining different points of view, different experiences, always makes for a better end result. In Orchestra Baobab we were fortunate enough to have musicians from different nationalities in our ranks; some are from Guinea-Bissau, others from Mali and I've got Togolese roots myself. That mix created a sort of pan-Africanism in the band enabling us to explore the entire African cultural patrimony, something we're still exploring today."
When you reformed the band, the renowned World Circuit label took care of the promotion and distribution of your albums. You're now enjoying a second youth, so to speak, and are hugely popular in the West. Is that also the case in Senegal, where the whole Baobab story started so many years ago?
Barthélemy Attisso: "Even back in the day, we were only moderately popular in West-Africa. The main reason for that was that, back then, we didn't have a big label like World Circuit behind us to help out with our promotion and distribution. As a result, our albums were copied by the dozen and sold on cheap cassette tapes the world over. Ironically, that's how the World Circuit label eventually discovered us! These days, every album release is accompanied by a promo tour; a great idea because it has made our music known to a much larger audience! I always say: "As an artist, you need an equal dose of luck and talent!"
You just mentioned the pirating of your early albums there. Is that the reason why, when you rereleased the 'Ken Dou Werente' album, you decided to rename it 'Pirate's Choice'?
Barthélemy Attisso: "(laughs) Exactly, yes! Nick Gold, the head of World Circuit, is a genius with great vision. He inspired the reformation of the band - he was just convinced it was going to be a success - and it was also his idea to rename the album 'Pirate's Choice': the choice of the pirates. Piracy is never a good thing, but in our unique case, there were definitely some benefits to their actions!"