One of the great things about living in a city as diverse as ours is the variety of ethnic music that one hears while just walking down the street, whether it be coming out of a club, a car rolling with its top down, or out of an open apartment window. Those looking to open their windows and contribute to the city’s ambient soundtrack should give a listen to Made in Dakar, by celebrated Senegalese collective Orchestra Baobab. Released last week on World Circuit/Nonesuch Records, the recording provides the perfect aural complement to the sunshine filled (and often steamy) days that make up spring and summer in the District.

Orchestra Baobab traces its roots back to Dakar in 1970. Because of its role as a major African port, Dakar became a melting pot of musicians from around the world, and especially influential was the music of Cuba. That is when saxophonist Baro N’Diaye and bassist Sidathe Ly assembled a group of like-minded musicians who were interested in fusing the sounds of of Latin America with more indigenous West African sounds, which had been largely absent from Dakar’s music scene. The resulting mixture combines Afro-Cuban rhythms, Portuguese Creole melodies, Congolese rhumba, Nigerian high life, and local griot styles. While the group’s lineup has changed several times, it suffered a split beginning in 1985, due to unrest in Senegal and within the group itself, it reconvened in 2001 and has spent this decade touring the world and reclaiming its mantle as one of the top purveyors of West African music.