Ginger Baker in Africa

Tony Palmer – 1973 – England

Although he isn’t remembered as one of the great documentarians of his day, Tony Palmer’s name still turns up regularly as the director of many interesting films about the popular culture of the late 60s and early 70s, especially music; including films for British television profiling the Beatles, Cream and Leonard Cohen, plus the 1971 Frank Zappa feature 200 Motels.  Cream was the first supergroup and it fizzled out almost as soon as it made its mark.  Bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker were all such strong and idiosyncratic personalities that it was inevitable that they would get sick of each other, which they did just two years after forming.  Clapton, of course, went on to make brief appearances in a handful of other supergroups, but Baker had had enough of being rock royalty and in 1971 headed off to Nigeria with a couple of friends to explore and find himself.  Baker may not have been a household name compared to other rock legends of the day, but having already interviewed and photographed him for the film Cream’s Farewell Concert (1969), Palmer clearly sensed that anything involving Baker going off the grid would likely make for an interesting film.  The result is a surreal patchwork that is more an artistic travelogue than a coherent film, as Baker and company cross the Sahara Desert in a car that breaks down more often than it runs.  Key events not caught on camera are filled in with animated interludes, and much of the film’s soundtrack is comprised of Baker himself narrating, reading from a poetic text designed to accompany his own music.  Baker was obviously in and out of cooperative moods during the shoot, and we don’t actually learn much about him, but this can’t be called a shortcoming because we have no assurance that this was even a goal of his or Palmer’s.  Where Baker does come to life, however, is when he is able to share music with the locals, either listening to them play or playing with them.  Baker was so moved by the experience that he ended up moving to Nigeria and staying there for many years, setting up a recording studio, and having some influence over the spread of so-called “world music” into the West, a process started by George Harrison’s use of the sitar on several records and the Brian Jones-sponsored The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka.