Not that anyone was sitting down for long when Daara J (last seen at the Usher Hall when they won the Africa category at last year’s Radio 3 World Music Awards) bounded onstage and totally transformed the atmosphere. Current chief posse on Senegal’s bustling hip hop scene – home, apparently, to some 2000 crews, second in number only to South Africa – the trio operate on the premise that, “Born in Africa, brought up in America, rap has come full circle”, pointing to the ancient African tradition of tasso, rhythmic poetry passed down from father to son.

Alongside their growing international success, Daara J have also been active at home on the political front. There can’t be many American hip hoppers who’ve been hired by a presidential candidate to edit speeches and spearhead anti-corruption campaigns, as Daara J were during Senegal’s election in 2000, which saw the end of Abdou Diouf’s 19-year regime.

On the performance front, they completely stole the show, serving up an exuberant cocktail of rap, ragga, Latin, Caribbean and west African influences, from stunning close- harmony passages to dazzling rapid-fire scatting. With the three MCs clad in customised baggy white tracksuits, their tremendous physical energy and showmanship infectiously powered an upbeat message of solidarity and hope.

-Sue Wilson