Los Angeles
A sprawling world-music concert here at the Hollywood Bowl last weekend served to illustrate the fluidity of today's rock and pop scene. Geographic borders no longer exist; what has emerged from the resulting free flow of sounds are some intriguing, deeply affecting hybrids.
The bill included Baaba Maal, the singer from Senegal; Tinariwen, a group from the Sahara region in northern Mali; the Brooklyn-based band Yeasayer; and Fool's Gold, which is stationed here. Mr. Maal turned over part of his set to Playing for Change, a multicultural group of musicians who ended their brief show with a sing-along version of Ben E. King's hit "Stand by Me" featuring Grandpa Elliott, a 65-year-old New Orleans street musician, and Clarence Bekker from the Netherlands.
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A spirit of camaraderie infused the show. Tinariwen and Fool's Gold have worked together before, and two members of the West African group joined the Los Angeles-based band for its finale, "Ha Dvash," a track from its 2009 self-titled album. Later, as if to indicate his appreciation for the Americans' take on African music, Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Tinariwen's legendary leader, played a guitar belonging to Lewis Pesacov, Fool's Gold's lead guitarist. TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone made a surprise appearance to play two songs with Tinariwen.
Perhaps inadvertently, the evening seemed to be divided into segments in which Fool's Gold and Tinariwen represented traditional African music while Yeasayer and Baaba Maal symbolized the diversity within African and African-influenced pop. In Yeasayer's case, though, the group appeared to have shucked off the organic sounds, particularly the textured percussion, that made them the subject of discussions on American bands that found sonic inspiration overseas.
At one time, Fool's Gold comprised as many as 12 musicians, but now it's down to a core unit of seven, which includes Mr. Pesacov trading complex single-note lines with fellow guitarist Matt Popieluch to add brightness and sting to the dance polyrhythms. Strains of chimurenga music from Zimbabwe and what resembles mbaqanga from South Africa inform the sounds that dart around vocals by Luke Top, who, to further enrich the musical stew, sings in Hebrew. At times, the music of Fool's Gold cries out for a heavy bottom—Mr. Top, who also plays bass, seems to prefer the instrument's high end—but the band is potent, even in a truncated four-song set that lasted only long enough to hint at its prowess. Overseas, especially in Paris where they have a dedicated fan base, Fool's Gold lays down dance music at clubs for hours at a stretch.
Founded in the late '70s, Tinariwen plays the traditional melodies of nomads from the southern Sahara, known as the Touareg. But the band does so by adding elements of the blues, rock and Arabic music. On stage, Mr. Ag Alhabib, on vocals and guitar, is a calm, stately presence who provides the focal point while percussionists Said Ag Ayad and Mohamed Ag Tahada create a roiling current that feeds the music's intensity. Blossoming just before sunset, Tinariwen's performance was heavy and hypnotic, and yet members of the audience were driven to dance, including one young woman who discarded her crutches to do so. Much as they did at the recent Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee, the musicians from Mali found new fans, though few, if any, understood the song's lyrics: It's the music carries the message.
Yeasayer is now a very fine modern rock and pop band with focus, authority, and—with Anand Wilder and Chris Keating trading vocals—a gift for counterpoint. But it is hard to see them being as much a part of the world-music mix as they were right after "All Hour Cymbal," their very impressive 2007 debut, which was distinguished by the group's sense of dynamics and its taste for textured percussion. On this chilly night, their music, as on their new album, "Odd Blood," was delivered with blunt force when they should have sought the beauty in the interplay of voices and the fretless bass playing of Ira Wolf Tuton. The Hollywood Bowl audience was peppered with Yeasayer fans who loved their set, but anyone who had seen the group prior to their conversion to full-blown contemporary pop and expected them to revert to the old sound in the spirit of the evening was likely to be at least a little bit disappointed.
After Playing for Change's three-song set in which "Back to Your Roots" blended reggae and gospel, Mr. Maal appeared, arriving amid a percussion storm that led to "Mbolo" from his album "Nomad Soul," released in 1998. By now, Mr. Maal is a bona fide superstar, even well beyond Senegal, and his music reaches beyond West Africa for its mix. At times, his many percussionists created a rushing wave of sound not unlike the great Santana bands of the '70s and '80s, as synthesizers rippled through the midsection. While Massamba Diop on talking drum created a visual alternative to Mr. Maal, the leader offered undeniable charisma and a gritty, supple voice as he unfurled songs from his latest album, "Television." He also seemed to understand the evening's subtext. The same moon and stars, he said, shine over us whether we are in Africa or in Southern California. "This is how it should be," he added. "It's a party. We are all connected."
