Golden glasses & Guitar strings
It began with ‘welcome to Mali.’
Apparently Marium’s appearance was in doubt last night and the gig was at one stage looking likely to be cancelled after she’d contracted a throat infection.
Amazing then that her ethereal delivery of ‘Sabali’ was pitch perfect, even if the concordeII sadly supplied a couple of bad reverb screeches during the rendition.
At the tracks end Marium simply said ‘bye, bye,’ instead of her usual crowd rousing ‘yeah’ and exited the stage.
It was left to Amadou to kick off the next few songs with his usual ‘let’s go’ or ‘on e’ va’ [I’m rubbish at French] and on went the show. The night attracted a strangely passive crowd at first, more mid-fifties than i expected, people with an ear bent to the ‘world music’ scene who had arrived early to sit on the perimeter bar.
The throng, front and middle, jigged throughout, and when hand drummer Pape took the spotlight in ‘c’est ne pas bon’, he lifted the beat to pulsating, impossibly touching his nose between each quickening strike of the drum.
It was head-touching next when Marium reappeared on stage, she took her mark next to Amadou by feeling the top of his head as he sang, a touch of intimacy that suited the subdued mood of ‘I follow you’ - the English love song that built in to a sweet-treacle-like crescendo of sound. Following that was always going to be tough, but even the most staunch of standing-only patrons were shifting their feet and sliding their shoulders to the ultra-funk of ‘Batoma.’ A song made even more outstanding by the Barry sisters who combined spinning around in a frenzy, with a bodacious and mesmerizing air guitar. This was basic world-vibe rhythm and people were feeling it.
All in all, an unmissable and uplifting treat from sunnier shores.
