Baaba Maal Announces First Album in 7 Years, Shares New Song: Listen

Senegalese singer-songwriter Baaba Maal has announced a new album: Being is due out March 31 via Marathon Artists. It’s his first solo album since 2016’s The Traveller, and features guest contributions from the producer and multi-instrumentalist Johan Karlberg. Ahead of the full album, Maal has released a song called “Yerimayo Celebration.” Listen to that below, and scroll down to find the tracklist and album art.

As he notes in a press release, “Yerimayo Celebration” is a call to honor tradition amid the fast pace of technology. “A song is like a person. It has a life, name, a character, and it has a position in life,” Maal said in the statement. “I think that’s what makes this album so powerful—it is totally about now and where I am now, the dreams I have of the past and the future.”

Since releasing The Traveller in 2016, Maal has continued to contribute to film soundtracks including Black Panther and the upcoming score for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. He was also featured on Mumford & Son’s Johannesburg, and has collaborated with Brian Eno, Damon Albarn, John Leckie, and more.

Read “How Black Panther Composer Ludwig Göransson Found the Sound of Wakanda” on the Pitch.

Being:

01 Yerimayo Celebration
02 Freak Out [ft. The Very Best]
03 Ndungu Ruumi
04 Agreement
05 Boboyillo [ft. Rougi]
06 Mbeda Wella [ft. Paco Lenol]
07 Casamance Nights