Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band, Karl Injex (DJ sets)
Courtesy Sublime Frequencies
Saturday May 20, 2023 09:00 PM EDT
Cost: $15+
CL RECOMMENDS
CL Critic Doug DeLoach Recommends: Touring on the success of their latest LP, Sonbonbela, recorded in 2022 in the Republic of Burkina Faso, Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band bring their infectious blend of Mandingue and afrobeat music to 529 in East Atlanta Village. Led by vocalist and ngoni master Mamadou Sanou (a/k/a Baba Commondant), the Mandingo Band is distinguished by the guitar pyrotechnics of Issouf Diabate, Wendeyida Ouedraogo’s badass bass guitar and the percussive juggernaut represented by Abbas Kabore (drums) and Nickie Dembele (balafon). Eschewing the ubiquitous banality of auto-tune, which currently dominates West African afropop, Baba prefers the sharp, clear, mellifluous tones and irresistibly danceable rhythms from the golden era of Nigerian highlife and juju music in the 1970s when Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé ruled the scene. As a vocalist, in addition to Fela, Sanou draws inspiration from the late, legendary Malian growler/saxophonist Moussa Doumbia. — DD
From the venue:
Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band are a contemporary world music group from Burkina Faso. Coming from the city of Bobo-Diulasso, the group is rooted in the Manding musical traditions of their ancestral legacy.