The liner notes of Baaba Maal's full-length record, Djam Leelii, instructs us on the origins of this magical album. It started with a battered cassette tape Baaba Maal made with the blind guitarist Mansour Seck. For years, the tape was only available in Senegal, but an original copy managed to float up to Biritian, where it acquired legendary status among West African music fans. Music afficianados spent several years attempting to track down the tape's origins. It wasn't until Baaba Maal's English debut in 1988, that the multi-track tapes of most of the songs were unearthed in Dakar. The remaining songs were never recovered, but while searching for these tracks, a tape of an earlier, nearly-forgotten session was uncovered. The liner notes conclude, "What you have here is a nearly-lost classic of modern Senagalese music." (Okay, did you follow all that?)

Djam Leelii: The Adventurers. When a grain ripens to perfection, it has to be harvested; otherwise the birds will eat it. So in life there is a right moment for everything. The saddest of times are the goodbyes. When the land has dried up and there is not enough to keep young men at home, the Toucouleur youth know they must leave Gabon, or the Congo, or Ivory Coast or Burundi, or even Europe. Their future is uncertain; they don't know what they will find or when they will come back. But one thing is for sure -- there is no reason for them to stay.  

But you don't need to read the liner notes to know this is a melancholic album.  And this is the power of music: wthout translation, and across cultures, you can hear the soft sadness in these melodies. The endings and the goodbyes. The fear of unknown destinations. These are songs about coming undone. They're lullabies, encouraging us to surrender, and let change have its way.

1. Maacina Tooro - Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck

2. Bibbe Leydy - Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck 

Here's a trailer from the Baaba Maal documentary by Palm Pictures. Beware of the stuffy British narrator.

-- Jess