An interview with Baaba Maal about his 2 year trip across West Africa with Mansour Seck to learn the region's folk music

On this week's show, an interview with the legendary Senegalese singer, Baaba Maal. We will hear how he began his career in West African folk music. After completing his education in Senegal in 1981, Baaba Maal travelled across West Africa with his friend, blind guitarist Mansour Seck, going village to village to learn the region’s folk music. In 2 years, they visited to more that 300 places in Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania and Ivory Coast In the decades since, the Grammy nominated singer has used his voice to fight against female genital mutilation, worked with the United Nations Development Program to combat the spread of AIDS/HIV, served as an Oxfam global ambassador to combat the food crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa and is now a UN Ambassador to combat desertification.