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Music Review
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The Boston Herald, Music Review >>
Baaba Maal, at the Somerville Theatre, Friday night.
The Somerville Theater was airlifted to Senegal Friday night. Afropop sensation Baaba Maal managed to transform the Davis Square institution into an intimate Senegalese village celebration with a potent mix of West African rhythms and soaring, jaw-dropping vocals.
The show began with Maal and his colorfully dressed ensemble striding out to the stage to have a seat on the floor in front of the instruments.
``We are going to be as natural as possible tonight,'' announced Maal. ``This is what we do in my village in Senegal; after eating we all sit down to sing songs.''
With a single guitar for accompaniment, Maal began the set as his musicians remained seated cross-legged on the floor, swaying and snapping fingers to his repeating circular guitar riffs and mournful singing. It was obvious from the start that this show was not going to be the Maal of recent years. The slick, contemporary Afropop sheen of his '90s work was nowhere to be found. On this night it was replaced by a more traditional and hypnotic West African folk aesthetic, similar in style to the desert drone of Ali Farka Toure. Maal's back-to-basics approach reflected the vibe of his latest album, 2001's ``Missing You'' (Mi Yeewnii).
After a delicate interpretation of the Maal classic ``Koni,'' the seated musicians slowly began to make their way to their instruments. The mournful ballad ``Baayo'' was another early standout with its trancelike rhythm and slowly building percussion.
Maal's entire set was a study in momentum. Each song seemed to build in intensity, the tempo speeding up a fraction with each ascending tune. The ballads and hypnotic dirges of the opening numbers soon gave way to a growing syncopated pulse. As the tempo increased, the audience participation followed suit. Senegalize ex-pats soon were bounding down the aisles. Maal left his chair, shed his stately purple outer robes and began moving his agile, feline body to the building groove. With the percussionists now kicking into full gear, the aisles and the narrow space in front of the stage began to fill up with a mix of vibrantly garbed Senegalize, loose-limbed hippies and one particularly spunky, replacement-hip-twisting grandmother.
As entertaining as the crowd was, it was the supernaturally gifted voice of Maal that stole all the attention. His rich tenor easily cut through the melodious racket of four guitarists and three percussionists.
As the West African train approached a sweaty climax, everyone got to their feet as the entire Senegalize faction of the audience took turns leaping onstage to dance with Maal and his entourage. When the show finally came to a halt, the crowd was treated to a true encore performance. With the house lights up and the canned music already playing, the dance-fevered audience refused to take no for an answer. Maal and his band returned to play a relentless polyrhythmic groove that finally satiated the exhausted crowd and sent them back across the ocean to Somerville.
03/28/04
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