Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saka.

My guest today is a worldwide music star whose sound and soul reflect his roots in northern Senegal.

For much of his adult life, Baba Mal has been an artistic wanderer.

Now 69, he has played concert halls all over the world, worked with

top producers and musicians from different traditions, and he's collaborated on the soundtrack

for the hit Black Panther movie franchise. Over the years, he's used his platform to advocate

for education, technological innovation and sustainable environmental management

in his homeland. He's been labelled the voice of the Sahel and his popularity doubtless surpasses

that of the politicians in power. But when push comes to shove, what difference can this music icon make in a region beset with troubles?

Well, Baba Mal joins me now.

Welcome to Hard Talk.

Thank you.

Well, it's great to have you back in this Hard Talk studio.

Now, you have a new album out, Being.

It's your first for several years. And I was very interested to see that you described yourself these days as an elder. Does that mean your music is sort of changing as you gain more and more experience and wisdom?

Oh, it's not changing at all. It's just coming to this natural way, playing music.

Maybe it can reflect the first way I was writing songs when I was much more relaxed,

not under pressure, just taking a lot of pleasure of being into a studio, sitting in the middle

of a garden, picking up a guitar and playing music. You're a star of world music and you tour the world,

but would you say that your music is still very much rooted in Podor, your hometown in northern

Senegal, and the fishing community that you came from,

and the very sort of local place that your music was founded in.

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