Baaba, for starters, could you briefly situate Podor, your natal village in Senegal?
Baaba Maal:
"Podor is situated in the north of Senegal at the border with Mauretania, a part of Senegal that in the past was part of the large Mandingo Empire. It's a village that's in great part populated by members of the Fula minority. I stem from a family of fishermen myself."

Did the fact that you grew up in a small village and not in a big city like Dakar play an important role in your life?
Baaba Maal:
"Yes, absolutely. Even when I was still a youth, I was already very aware of the fact that I was very lucky to be able to grow up in a place where you could still find African culture in its purest form. That kind of purity is now only to be found in the interior of the country anymore. Podor was one of these places where traditions were still intact and for me it was like growing up in a kind of natural cultural conservatory."

A couple of years ago you returned to Podor to establish the Le Blues du Fleuve festival. Was that your way of showing gratitude?
Baaba Maal:
"I left that part of Senegal years ago, but I've always been very aware of the fact that my career was built on the music I learnt there. The people of Podor have always supported and advised me and have been doing so for over twenty-five years now, so I decided the time had come to give something back. I wanted to thank them for their support, but I also wanted the rest of the world to know where Baaba Maal came from. Podor is a village where the people like to express themselves artistically and the festival provided the ideal means to show that to the world."

Let's address your new album, 'Télévision', for just a moment. If I say that this is the least African sounding album you've released so far, would you agree?
Baaba Maal:
"Yes, I understand that remark. From the very beginning, even before we started recording, I wanted to create an album that just featured me as a musician, regardless of my cultural background. Of course I'm African and my career did start over there, but I've travelled extensively, I've educated myself and I met the most extraordinary people along the way; all of these things have had an enormous impact on me. I'm someone who lives all over this planet, but who's still firmly rooted in Africa. For ‘Télévision' I wanted to record songs I could share with just about any musician, anywhere in the world."

And why did you choose 'Télévision' as the title for the album?
Baaba Maal:
"Where the themes of the songs on 'Télévision' are concerned, I selected subjects that were related to the projects I am supporting in Africa; things like Make Poverty History and the Millennium Development Goals (The Millennium Development Goals - MDGs - are eight international development goals that 192 United Nations member states and at least twenty-three international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development, red.). To me, two of the most important objectives in that list are education and access to technology, information technology in particular, because an ever recurring question in Africa is how to inform the people in the most remote areas. I've come to realize that in the last few years television has started to fulfill that role. African television channels are now broadcasting ever more programs in native languages, that way making them much more accessible for illiterate people. I also wanted to address the negative aspect of the medium, though - not everything shown on television is the truth - because it's a medium that can very easily be abused and that could be very detrimental for the African continent."

For the album you worked with a group called Brazilian Girls. They're not all that well known in Europe yet, so could you tell us a bit more about them?
Baaba Maal:
"Brazilian Girls is a band that's hugely popular in the United States and in New York in particular. It's a somewhat complex band; they're called Brazilian Girls, but in fact they're not Brazilian at all and they're not all girls either, the only female member is Sabina (Sciubba, red.), the singer and she's of German-Italian descent. But that's exactly what New York is all about; it's a place where just about any combination is possible. I decided to meet them because I wanted to write the song for this album in a very peculiar way. Barry Reynolds (American singer-songwriter and member of the Compass Point Studio Band alongside Sly & Robbie, Mikey Chung, Sticky Thompson and Wally Badarou, red.) with whom I had collaborated for the 'Nomad Soul' album, introduced us to one another and during the proceeding composing sessions, we'd often put our instruments aside to discuss various topics. Several songs on the album originated in this way."

You've often tried to discourage your young compatriots from undertaking the treacherous voyage to Europe or at least make them think twice before leaving. You being a sort of incarnation of their dreams, do you think you're the right person to warn them off?
Baaba Maal:
"(laughs) They're not easily convinced, that's for sure, but the times have changed, that much I know. I usually address them in a very open and frank manner. I'm a nomad myself; I travel a lot and am against borders or divisions between people. The world belongs to all of us, so we have to exchange ideas and build it together. I'm all in favor of travel, but travel for constructive reasons, not the death trips these young people undertake to reach Europe. If this evolution continues, Africa will lose all of its young work force. That's why in some of my songs I don't address the youths as such, but the political leaders. They have to solve this problem and try to find solutions to give these youths what they are looking for without them having to leave the country to get it. As a musician I travel extensively, but I always return to my country."

You were also appointed Special Emissary to the United Nations. What does that function entail exactly?
Baaba Maal:
"I helped to start up the 2015 project. They were looking for artists and musicians who were prepared to aid in promoting the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals and Make Poverty History. The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme, red.) realized that in Africa, culture could play an important communicatory role in the promotion of development programmes. Various musicians joined me in Dakar and we all signed a convention binding us to address topics like the importance of education or the equality of the sexes. We also recorded a CD called 'Nous Sommes Les Tam-tams', mainly intended as a promotional tool for the campaign. In short, I just lend my name and fame as well as my voice to the cause to try to make people understand what is essential in our society."

There are a number of people who've played an important role in your career. Let's start with Chris Blackwell; your first records were released on his Mango/Island Records label and these days you're once again signed to his new Palm Pictures imprint.
Baaba Maal:
"Chris is someone who understood quite rapidly that, apart from the commercial potential of my music, I was still rooted in my community and in Africa, and that I had a voice that needed to be heard. He was one of the first people to tell me:  "Baaba you've got to use your voice to talk about Africa and let the people know what's going on there!" Someone like that is a rare find in the money-obsessed world of the music business. He's been a very important person in my life and I think I can call him a true friend."

Then there's Kaouding Cissoko, your stage partner, who passed away a few years ago.
Baaba Maal:
"Kaouding is irreplaceable! Anyone who's been following my career a bit will have noticed that over the last few years I've started focusing more on the acoustic guitar. That's just because, even though I realize there are other skilled kora players out there, in my opinion Kaouding can't be replaced. I've witnessed him growing up and evolving and he was always a very open, available and creative individual with a unique style of playing his instrument. I can only pray his children will carry on his legacy with dignity."

The last one then: Mansour Seck?
Baaba Maal:
"Mansour has been an opportunity for me, just as I've been one for him. He's a griot, which I'm not, so thanks to him I've had the opportunity to live with an actual griot family. They welcomed me as a son and taught me many things. Mansour in his turn has had the chance to escape the restrictions that oblige the griots only to play music for certain noble families. He's a great musician and always encouraged me to learn to play the guitar. I always call him my tension regulator; we started out dreaming the same dream of becoming professional musicians one day, and in moments when I tend to stray from that path, Mansour is always there to point me back in the right direction. He always reminds me of who I am and where I come from. He's a true brother."

You've released quite a number of albums over the years, but your fans still always want to hear hits like 'African Woman' or 'Sidiki'. Don't you ever get tired of playing them?
Baaba Maal: "No, not at all, because these songs opened a lot of doors for me and they're also on the crossroads of Caribbean, Latin and African music."