Dakar's Superstars.(Orchestra Baobab )

Back in the 1970s, Senegal's Orchestra Baobab was hotter than the steamy Dakar clubs where the group performed. Since independence in 1960, Cuban and salsa music had been all the rage in the tiny coastal African nation. French governors of the colonial era first brought Latin musicians to the country and, after independence, the band's songs seemed the perfect party music for the raucous and vibrant early days of hopeful celebration. Orchestra Baobab fused those Latin beats with a variety of West African rhythms, creating a distinctive--and distinctly popular--sound.

Band members were local heroes: a talented guitarist from Togo, a traditional storytelling praise singer, a Nigerian oboe player, a Gambian drummer and a saxophone player from Mali who had been influenced by jazz and blues. But by the 1980s, Senegalese audiences had turned to the percussion-based street music known as mbalax (made world famous by musicians like Youssou N'Dour). Acrimony replaced accolades for the fading stars of Orchestra Baobab. They squabbled over what direction to take their music. By 1987 the band had split up and its members had gone their separate ways.

Fortunately for them, their music remained. Baobab's 1982 album "Pirate's Choice" quietly made its way around the globe, passed on by record merchants and world-music aficionados. In Europe and America, the album became a cult classic. When British producers remixed the CD and re-released it last year, the band began to recapture some of its old heat: a series of concerts across the United States last summer drew thousands. Last month the band, which reformed, released a critically acclaimed new album, "Specialist in All Styles"--its first in 15 years. "They invented a new take on the Cuban sound," says Lucy Duran, lecturer in African music at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. "And because they are regionally diverse, bringing a variety of musical traditions into the mix, they have a wide appeal."

It's an appeal that much of the world could easily have forgotten about. Inspired by the success of the "Pirate's Choice" re-release, the organizers of a Dakar night at London's Barbican Centre suggested reuniting Baobab to play a one-off concert in May 2001. British producer Nick Gold and Jenny Cathcart, a ...