When Ludwig Göransson was hired to write the music for Black Panther, he flew to Senegal. He wanted the sound of Wakanda to come from Africa, and he found Baaba Maal.
Baaba Maal was born in Podor, a town on the Senegal River in the north of Senegal, near the border with Mauritania. He is Fulani, or Peul, and sings mostly in Pulaar, the Fulani language. He studied music in Dakar and in Paris, and in the 1980s and 1990s built a reputation as one of West Africa’s most powerful singers.
Black Panther
Göransson, a Swedish composer, spent time in Senegal and South Africa recording traditional instruments and musicians. He travelled with Maal on tour and recorded him in Senegal. Maal’s voice appears in the film’s score, and he is credited as a featured vocalist.
Black Panther was released in 2018 and became a global phenomenon. Göransson won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and the African sounds in the score became part of the film’s identity.
Career
Maal’s early career was built with his group Daande Lenol, meaning “voice of the people”. His albums, including Firin’ in Fouta and Missing You (Mi Yeewnii), mixed traditional Fulani songs with modern production, and he worked with producers and artists from Europe and the United States.
In 2016 he released The Traveller, an album about movement and migration, and the same year he joined Mumford & Sons, The Very Best and Beatenberg on the Johannesburg EP. Those projects introduced him to rock and pop audiences who had never heard a Pulaar lyric.
He also performed for decades with his childhood friend, the guitarist Mansour Seck.
Blues du Fleuve
Maal founded the Blues du Fleuve festival in Podor, bringing musicians from across Africa and the world to his hometown on the river. The festival celebrates the music of the Sahel and the Senegal River valley.
Activism
Maal has campaigned on development issues, including desertification, youth unemployment and the environment in the Sahel. He has worked as a youth emissary for the United Nations Development Programme.
The Fulani voice
The Fulani are spread across West and Central Africa, from Senegal to Cameroon, and their music has long travelled with them. Maal’s high, soaring voice has become one of its best-known sounds.
Millions of cinemagoers heard him without knowing his name. In Podor, everyone knows it.
