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Pirates Choice
by: Orchestra Baobab

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0769233006325
Label: World Circuit
Manufacturer: World Circuit
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: World Circuit
Release Date: October 01, 2001
Studio: World Circuit
Sales Rank: 22664

Disc 1:

Disc 2:

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The original Pirates Choice vinyl album makes up disc one of this two-CD set of the same name. It was originally released in France, then reissued by World Circuit in 1989. These tracks were initially available on cassette in Senegal, and the arguably superior disc two unearths the copious remainder of those sessions. Named after the Dakar club where they became resident, Baobab first formed in 1970. This remastered set marks the band's reunion after well over a decade apart. Here, their mood is one of reclining, with a potent Cuban rumba influence providing a languorous swaying motion, each track taking its time to unwind. These numbers represent the Orchestra at its most laid-back, especially when compared to their more abrasive works (1981's Sibou Odia, for instance). Baobab could boast a pool of five singers, their lyrics moving from Wolof to Spanish, backed up by an array of percussion and guitars. Issa Cissoko's creamy tenor saxophone and Barthelemy Atisso's floaty guitar were crucial to the band's sound, providing articulate solo voices that curve and curl around the chorus lines. --Martin Longley

fRoots, October 2001 :
Orchestra Baobab were up there with Guinea's Bembeya Jazz as one of the great Dakar-based bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time when Latin/ Cuban music was so well integrated with local styles that the end-product was more alluring than anything out of Cuba itself. Originally formed as the house band of Dakar's Baobab Club, founder members Barthelemy Atisso and singers Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis came from the Star Band, and the line-up eventually included Wolof, Malinke, Toucouleur, Nigerian and Moroccan musicians, and singer Thione Seck. Their sophisticated arrangements fused elements of many local traditional forms with Latin music and jazz. Barthelemy Atisso's guitar style, whilst not as frantic as that of Bembeya's "Diamond Fingers", was extremely original (a muted sound somewhere between the Congo and surf guitar) and this coupled with Issa Cissoko's tenor sax was the hallmark of their great works like the sultry "Utru Horas". World Circuit issued Pirates Choice (so named because they were one of the most tape bootlegged bands in West African history) in the 80s, but this has now grown into a double CD--the second one composed of six more tracks from the same session that are just as good as most of those previously released. Plenty of variety among them too, including the very Wolof, tenor-led "Foire Internationale" sung by Ndiouga Dieng to a big grinding local rhythm, the very Latin "La Rebellion", and closing with "Balla Daffe" which is Baobab-do-reggae and nicely too. Like half the new tracks, the latter is sung by Balla Sidibe. And now, after their sensational re-formation in 2001, we can look forward to the next chapter too. Ian Anderson

© fRoots Magazine all rights reserved

The Observer Music Monthly, 50 Essential CDs from Around the World, June 2008:
The liquid sound of the West African night courtesy of the seminal Senegalese band.

Album Description:
'Pirates Choice' was recorded in two-track studios in one take - no overdubs, no second thoughts - and done with such ease and effortlessness that it has become truly a slice of history.

First released on World Circuit in 1989, the album captured the legendary Senegalese group Orchestra Baobab in one of their last studio sessions in 1982. The album is an undiluted, soulful and mellow session where the musicians laid down rhythmic grooves over favourite Baobab songs, revealing the huge influence Cuban music had on them. This re-release is remastered, repackaged and augmented with a second CD of 6 previously-unissued bonus tracks.

Personnel:
Issa Cissako - (tenor saxophone), Barthelemy Attisso - (lead guitar), Papa Ba - (rhythm guitar), Adama Sarr - (guitar), Charlie Antoine N'Biay - (bass), Balla Sidibe - (vocals, timbales), Radolphe Gomis, Nbjanga Dieng, Medoune Diall, Mapenda Seck - (vocals), Mountaga Kouyate - (percussion, tumba)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Simply mythical
The snaking guitar and meandering trumpet introduce the sad sounding lyric to the delicate opening track,"utra horas." You immediately know you´re listening to something very special.
The upbeat,"ledi Ndie M´boj," follows with it´s sprightly rhythms. This group have a stunning range and work brilliantly in tandem together. What strikes you is their harmony as musicians and the huge range of styles. For a start the singing is in a patois of French, Spanish and african languages.
My favourite has to be the fourth track with it´s flowing trumpet and driving guitar, I love the bassy solo.
Things cool off a little bit on the second CD but the group showcase their more subtle side.
This is a record to uplift you and an ... Read More:

Rating:

- Gobsmacked
Had to listen to this Disc, as my partner wanted it as part of last years birthday package, not much to say exept Bloody Brilliant.

Rating:

- tall and juicy fruits
This is a welcome re-issue of famous recordingsof the eighties. It is sweet like Bissap it is fierce like the scotch bonnet pepper. From Docteur Nico to Bembeya ,From Baobab to Rail Band of Mali
The music has the flavour that all these musicians tried to capture a blend of African Arabic European and Caribean punch.
People keep asking Where is this from? Senegal Where else

Rating:

- The tip of a rich iceberg
Baobab are a fantastic band, but this re-issue of a re-issue really shows how marketing muscle makes a difference, even in the perceived "backwater" of World Music. I'm not saying that this is a bad record - far from it, it's brilliant, but there are certainly two other equally good recordings ("Bamba" and "On Verra Ca") which languish in a few specialist shops, simply because they do not have the Buena Vista Social Club dollars to promote them. This may sound negative - I don't mean it to be; but if you search out the other CDs I've mentioned (as well as buying this one) you will thank me for it. The title track of "Bamba" has a delicious "saudade" which surpasses anything on this collection - and for that matter, any other single track ... Read More:

Rating:

- A distinctive West African classic.
Orchestra Baobab's smooth and sweet synthesis of traditional African and popular Caribbean styles produced one of the most distinctive sounds to come out of West Africa. Mellow and funky brass grooves and the silkiest of guitar lines combine to give the flavours of salsa, rumba and Senegalese rhythms.

Music : Pirates Choice