Attention world music fans: the current incarnation of Bela Fleck's tour features some of the most interesting African music around. Too bad it wasn't billed as such. 

​ Lawrence's Liberty Hall listed the performance as simply as "Bela Fleck," but the show certainly didn't focus on the banjo extraordinaire. Demonstrating a myriad of eclectic sounds, the show focused on two Tanzanian musicians, Anania Ngoliga and John Kitime, and a seven-piece group from Mali called Ngoni Ba. Fleck did play with them, but was certainly not the focal point, although he did serve as the MC for the evening's performance, which was nearly sold out.

The first portion of music featured the Tanzanians, and the focus was squarely on Ngoliga. The audience seemed to take a deep breath as Kitime helped Ngoliga, who is blind, on stage and set him up with the instrument that gives his music a classically African sound, the kalimba. Ngoliga's voice was unreal, stretching from the highest falsettos to the deepest bass tones. The kalimba, combined with Kitime's drone-like guitar playing, filled the auditorium with a rustic flavor, and the harmonies between their voices had a distinctly exotic sound. One of the highlights of their set was a lighthearted, comedic song that told a story of two girlfriends, "one who had a very pretty voice, and one who had a voice like a chicken." Delighting the audience with a variety of vocal stylings, this one garnered chuckles and laughter throughout, and enthusiastic applause at the end.

The second group to take the stage was the brightly-dressed Ngoni Ba, who was led by Mali's Bassekou Kouyate. Along with four Ngoni players, each of which played a different size of the instrument, two percussionists and vocalist Ami Sacko joined them. (The Ngoni is a stringed instrument that looks kinda like a lute, and was referred to Kouyate as "a Malian banjo.") When the music began, the pulsating beats Ngoni Ba poured forth put the audience into a rhythmic frenzy, with heads bobbing and hands clapping. Kouyate was a consummate showman, playing the most technical lines with ease, all while smiling and engaging the crowded house. The enthusiasm that he and his bandmates shared about the music was contagious, and the energy that was plainly visible in their smiles exhilarated the audience.

Fleck soon returned to join Kouyate and the group. Exchanging one blazing lick after another, Although from opposite ends of the world, Fleck and Kouyate had a musical kinship that couldn't be denied. The band's rhythms soon encouraged more hand claps, and featured a feverish solo by one of the percussionists. Sacko showed off her raspy, hypnotic voice on a number of songs, one of which was played for the king of Mali in the seventeenth century. This slower, more seductive raga-like number held everyone under a spell, and showed the softer side of the Malian music. Knowing the song's royal ties, it certainly seemed fitting as possible background music for a procession of expensive gifts or sacrifices for a monarch.

The lineup then changed again, with Ngoliga returning to join a smaller version of Ngoni Ba on a nearly bluesy number that sounded--instrumentally--a bit like something John Lee Hooker might have played. Fiddler Casey Driessen joined them on the next few numbers, which also included the return of the full Ngoni Ba group. Fleck's most prominent genre is bluegrass, and the large group on stage undertook a bluegrass-flavored piece that featured standout solos by Driessen and Ngoliga. It was a little odd to hear something Western as a fiddle played with something Eastern as a kalimba, but these skillful musicians executed the rich fusion seamlessly. This pseudo-hoedown yielded one of the most irresistible grooves of the night.

After a few more blissfully expressive songs, the evening concluded on a high note. There was one encore, the only song that was actually announced, Fleck's "Throw Down Your Heart," which won a Grammy last week. At the end of the night, the 2+ hours of music played by Fleck, Ngoliga, Kouyate and the other musicians left me with a sense of culture, enlightenment and joy. This was certainly due to the spirited music I heard at Saturday night's show; but it was due in a larger part to the spirit of the people that performed it.