The Bassline in Newtown was as cosmopolitan as is possible outside of an African Union conference on Friday night, both in the crowd and the performers.
The multilingual, multi-origin selection of performers had the varied crowd leaving their seats halfway to meander down to the easy-swaying, tipsy-warm makeshift dancefloor and the crowd grew larger and louder as the night wore on. The first act, Namibia’s Elemotho, fronted by Elemotho Mosimane on guitar and vocals, started the show off with tracks blending English and Setswana.
Along with his band, which included a female backing vocalist, shakers, another guitar, drums and bass, they kicked off the evening, albeit a bit late, with messages of African brotherhood, politics and philosophy.
The main act was a joint performance by homegrown Vusi Mahlasela, Mali’s Habib Koite, and the beautifully, sensually confident Dobet Gnahore from Côte d’Ivoire.
Suffice to say, there was a lot of French being flung around. At any given time there could be one, two or all three performers on stage, with or without their backing band which included Mali’s Aly Keita on the balafon, and with or without their respective instruments.
They played to the crowd and the crowd played right back. Mahlasela’s African folk, with his untouched voice and inspired soul, kept the activism of music alive throughout his performance.
Koite’s devil-may-care energy, evoked the feeling of a summer afternoon jam session in a little West African village. Gnahore has the incredible ability to master highly energetic and potentially dangerous dance moves while still not running out of breath to exude her powerful voice with enough charisma to charm even those least prone to foot tapping.
Acoustic Africa was coordinated through a joint effort by a number of organisations, including the French Institute of South Africa and African Synergy. The show is as musically pan-African as I have seen in a while, and now travels Southern Africa, before wrapping up at Oppikoppi on August 9.