On Baaba Maal’s third tour to South Africa, it’s all about ritual. The crowd stills as his two drummers start beating out their heartbeat, one pulse at a time. It climbs.
The entourage enters; one person, one pulse. The strings, the bass, the man with the drum under his armpit, the dancers, the one seeming to wear her pyjamas — blue-print three-leaf clover.
They assemble slowly, with reverence. The audience enters the music too, anticipating a climax to what it has been ushered into.
Finally, the African prince of world music sails in, purple robes flowing. He has an innocence about his physicality, a startled blankness at the roar of the crowd.
Then he sings.
Having not seen Maal live before, I had expected a subdued, contemplative crowd. His music offers me an intimate space. However, the rhythms of an African night are soon weaving waves through a dancing crowd.
A man clears a space to the left of the stage for his deliberately slowed-down pantsula. A girl is showing that whities can dance better than J-Lo. The opening act, Kwani Experience, watch from the front of the stage, mouths agape, transfixed humbly by this musical royalty. Members of Fly Paper Jet are not too far behind. Even Mail & Guardian editor Ferial Haffajee is letting her hair down.
The Bassline always offers an enriching experience. The crowd is diverse, welcoming and friendly. At least half of them you wouldn’t recognise as patrons in the street — as opposed to other music scenes, the facade of image is insignificant to taste. At Carfax, you’ll only see people that look like ravers. At Color Bar, you’ll only see the trendy. At Tokyo Star, you’ll only see the Eighties-revival cult. At Shivava, you’ll only see the Afro-liberals. At Jolly Roger, you’ll only see the jocks. Everyone comes to the party at Bassline.
The set is riveting and the energy carries. The dancers almost dance their beads off their dresses and some of the crowd make it up on stage to share their spasmodic bodies. The sound is rich and rewarding, but I am exhausted. I can’t move for tiredness, but have to see it to the end. The unrelenting cheer for encore keeps the party going.
Maal’s final tour gig is at the Macufe Festival in Bloemfontein on October 8