Orchestra Baobab + Nubiyan Twist
Orchestra Baobab, one of Africa’s most iconic and influential bands, and the band Nubiyan Twist from Leeds (UK) will be coming to Nuremberg this fall for a very special night at the NUEJAZZ Festival.
Orchestra Baobab | History
Orchestra Baobab fuse Africo-Cuban jazz, with Congolese Rumba, ‘Son Cubano’ and Portuguese Creole. Formed in 1970 as the house band for the Baobab Club in Dakar the band went on to become one of the dominant African bands in the 1970s. For almost 60 years, the Orchestra Baobab from West Africa has stood for opening up the music of its homeland to pop from the USA and Europe.
Senegal became independent in 1960. Like many other states in Africa, Senegal had to start from scratch politically, socially, and economically after the withdrawal of the former colonial power France and build new structures in order to function and survive as a state. Politically, in particular, the first years were turbulent for the people of Senegal, characterized by the ambivalent attitude of their first Senegalese president, Léopold Sédar Senghor. On the one hand, Senghor and his “Union Progressiste Sénégalaise” party effectively ruled alone from 1965 onwards, while on the other he pursued an almost visionary cultural policy to give Senegalese people unrestricted access to music festivals and recording studios, as well as art galleries and museums.
During these years, Senegal’s capital Dakar was home to the Miami, a music club where bands performed and people could dance to their sound. As was customary at the time, this club also had its own house band. In 1970, the Miami was renamed Baobab and the house band had found its name: Orchestra Baobab. Even back then, the orchestra was as heterogeneous as its sound was hybrid, with musicians from Senegal, Togo, and other countries in West and Central Africa playing jazz, Latin, Afro-Cuban, and regional music. Recording 20 albums before breaking up in 1987. After the release of some of their music on CD by World Circuit Records the band’s popularity in the UK and Europe boomed promoting them to reform in 2001.
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Popularity
The band’s popularity has been steadily rising since then as their spellbinding live shows have bought in new fans as well as keeping older ones hooked. After a string of sold-out events, we’re expecting tickets to see this legendary band to be snapped up fast.
Comeback
The music of the Orchestra Baobab certainly inspired and fascinated its audience. And the longer the orchestra played together, the more it opened up to (Afro)American pop music. It disbanded in 1987 – only to celebrate a comeback in 2001 at the instigation of Youssou N’Dour. Since then, Orchestra Baobab has been demonstrating worldwide that its mix of styles, for which it has always been famous, has lost none of its freshness, liveliness and originality.
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Nubiyan Twist
The band Nubiyan Twist was formed at Leeds College Of Music in 2011. Even back then, nine fellow students from this music college in the northern English city wanted to make music that would ignore stylistic boundaries from the outset and sweep away any aesthetic restrictions. Even today, the nine musicians still want to be open to any genre, their music should stimulate you intellectually and emotionally in equal measure.
So Mi Stay | Official Music Video
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And even back then, 13 years ago, the result was an urban sound clash of cultures, a flirty mix of Afrobeat, funk, soul, hip-hop and dancefloor that turned jazz on its head again.
We Out Here | Online & On Air | April 2024
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This Afro-British collective has released three albums which, on the one hand, show what great musicians are gathered under the name Nubiyan Twist and who know how to master any task that comes their way with bravura. On the other hand, Nubiyan Twist is all about celebrating exuberant, pushing grooves, brass themes that flow into sweet melodies, laid-back harmonies and strong vocals. Little has changed on the fourth album “Find Your Flame”. “Like all our albums, this one is a snapshot of our influences and journeys during production,” says Nubiyan Twist guitarist and bandleader Tom Excell.
“Most importantly, the process we went through together has helped to rekindle the fire of resistance to life’s adversities in each of us.”
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