Senegal sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean on the tip of the round curve of Western Africa. For as long as people have lived there, it has been a stop on the trading and migration roots. With the coming of the European nations, it became an instrumental port in the slave trade.

When the last colonial rulers, the French, banned slavery in 1857, the country reverted to its traditional role of safe haven for political refugees and centre for trade. The majority of nations in North West Africa and Arabia relied on Senegal for salt. This intermingling of cultures and nations has played a major role in the development of Senegalese music.

In Senegal, like other West African nations, there exists a type of caste system. Though not as rigid as others, it still can dictate a person's choice of career. Musicians, especially singers, are drawn from those who are members of a griot family.

More then just a singer, a griot serves as the repository of local history, knowing the stories of all the local families and able to recount their deeds in poems or song. They have been advisors to kings, teachers who instruct people in the right way to live, and what role they play in society as they grow up.

To aspire to be a singer when not from a griot family is to dream the unthinkable. To actually succeed in that dream is the sign of a unique individual. Not only do they have to be a person of singular talent, but display some characteristic that allows them to transcend traditional cultural boundaries.

Baaba Maal is one such man. Born the son of a fisherman, and destined, at best, for the professional class, he developed a love of singing at an early age. Discouraged by his parents and the griot form pursuing this hopeless dream, he nevertheless did not give up hope. His faith was rewarded when he began to receive assistance from the son of his family's griot.

Mansour Seck has since become Baaba Maal's closest friend and musical companion. Without him, he would have never learned learn the different styles of music and singing that are practiced throughout West Africa.

"...if a griot didn't want Baaba Maal to sing...the music of the griots, they couldn't say no to Mansour Seck, because Mansour Seck was from one of the best families of the griots..." Baaba Maal talking about learning music

Palm World Voices' third collection in their series of world music focuses on this remarkable man from Senegal. Simply titled Baaba Maal we are told the story of his rise from the son of a fisherman to that of an international music star who now shares the stage with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Sting.