Pitchfork: Baaba Maal Tours North America

Dudes like Puffy and Jay-Z have pretty impressive entourages, but they can't compare to the U.N. And as Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Programme, Senegalese pop star Baaba Maal makes even a tour something of a diplomatic affair. And we ain't talking the DipSet kind.

Today is the first day of Maal's first North American tour since 2004 and the first with his 13 piece electric group Daande Lenol (in English: "Voice of the People")-- featuring longtime friend and blind griot (the West African equivalent of a troubadour) Mansour Seck on guitar-- since 2002.

Maal became the first recipient of the Jammy World Music Award in a ceremony at Madison Square Garden in April. Maybe next time, he'll keep this in mind before he takes two more years to return to our jazz festivals and resort spots. If Santa Claus can travel the world in a night, why can't a Youth Emissary?

Diplomatic immunity:

06-13 Denver, CO - Botanic Gardens
06-14 Boulder, CO - Chautauqua Auditorium
06-16 San Francisco, CA - Masonic Auditorium (San Francisco Jazz Festival)
06-17 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl (Playboy Jazz Festival)
06-18 Santa Barbara, CA - Live Oak Music Festival
06-19 San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay *
06-21 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre
06-22 Crystal Bay, NV - Crystal Bay Club
06-23 Boonville, CA - Sierra Nevada World Music Festival
06-24 Seattle, WA - Showbox
06-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom (Vancouver International Jazz Festival)
06-26 Victoria, British Columbia - Royal Theatre JazzFest International
06-27 Roseburg, OR - Music on the Half Shell
06-28 Portland, OR - Oregon Zoo
06-30 Boston, MA - Somerville Theatre
07-01 Montreal, Quebec - Le Spectrum Jazz Festival
07-02 New York, NY - Irving Plaza

* with Richard Thompson

Posted by Dave Maher in on Tue: 06-13-06: 04:00 AM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

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