Acclaimed West African band brings first U.S. tour to greater Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO -- Celebrated West African group Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band plays a number of shows across the Bay Area starting with a Wednesday night performance at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.
Hailing from the nation of Burkina Faso, the group is fronted by enigmatic singer Mamadou Sanou (aka Baba Commandant). He got his start in the early '80s as a dancer in the Koule Dafourou troupe before stepping out as a vocalist, first with the group Dounia before starting the Afromandingo Band. He also performed for a number of years with the late guitarist and songwriter Victor Démé and has collaborated with African music icon Youssou N'Dour and world music champion Peter Gabriel.
Building its sound around Sanou's gruff vocals and melodic figures he plucks out on his ngoni (a "hunter's harp" that is a smaller version of the Manding kora), the group mixes the sounds of the West African tribal group the Mandingue with propulsive elements of Afrobeat and Nigerian highlife as popularized by African music icons Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade. After building a reputation for hypnotic, trance-inducing live shows across West Africa, the group had its first studio recording Juguya released on the Sublime Frequencies label in 2015.
The label founded by Sun City Girls member Alan Bishop and North African documentary filmmaker Hisham Mayet, Sublime Frequencies has always specialized in compiling and issuing unusual, hard-to-find global music ranging from African guitar music to Thai and Cambodian pop to Turkish psychedelia. While the label frequently focuses on preserving lost and nearly forgotten music, Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band stands as one of the imprint's best contemporary finds.
A second album, Sira Ba Kele, followed in 2018, with the band's latest effort Sonbonbela getting recorded early in 2022 in the musicians' native Republic of Burkina Faso. In addition to Sanou, the current band features legendary guitarist Issouf Diabate, bassist Wendeyida Ouedraogo (who takes the place of longtime bass player Massimbo Taragna, who died last year), drummer Abbas Kabore and percussionist/balafon player Nickie Dembele. The first U.S. visit by Baba Comandant and company includes multiple stops in the Bay Area and Northern California. On Wednesday, the tour hits the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco with Oakland band Gumby's Junk and DJ Junkdrawer supporting before heading up to Harlow's in Sacramento Thursday night. The band then travels to the Felton Music Hall Friday night before closing out the run of Bay Area performances at Berkeley world music mainstay Ashkenaz Saturday.
Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band
Wednesday, May 3, 8 p.m. $25-$30
The Rickshaw Stop
Thursday, May 4, 8 p.m. $15-$18
Harlow's
Friday, May 5, 8 p.m. $25-$29
Felton Music Hall
Saturday, May 6, 8 p.m. $25-$30
Ashkenaz
