Amadou et Mariam, 3rd Mar

For some reason, although the Souad Massi takes the stage and although she is brilliant and sings beautifully, it is not until late into her set that the crowd begins to respond as if they are at a happening.

There could be many reasons for this. The average age of the concert goers seems to be about 50+, so perhaps it takes a while for their bones to warm up, or something. The younger generation traditionally turn up a bit later and the beautiful Algerian French Spanish Arabic music comes across a little bit desperate, echoey. The band have a lot of fun, there are some great drum solos, the guitarist plays a twelve string like no-one I've seen and the old dude at the back gets more sounds out of his little Arabic drum than anyone with a full kit at their disposal.

The great dance music dies out and we are left waiting for the next act, Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal : "one of the hottest rappers to explode out of the African music scene" (worldmusic.net ). His is an incredible tale of survival as a child soldier, rescue, rejuvination, Jesus, forgiving everbody and music. (Independent Article ). Unfortunately his musical calling errs too far on the bland RnB side of hiphop, there is a good tune in there, the lyrics and stories are all meaningful and relevant but I become too aware of the ache in my legs and the fact that everybody around me seems to be loving it. Is it because of his story that they are all so enraptured? The BBC World Music Award for being someone with a history that we can't even imagine? Yes, we should sympathise with his history, but someone needs to tell him his music is sh1t. There is one good song in there, reminiscient of MC Solaar - good sing along chorus, Jal is out-rapped by his backing singer but I am once again distracted by the age of the audience.

I don't want to appear age-ist. I am happy that a lot of people who don't normally go to gigs are at gigs. I become embroiled in a brief 'discussion' on Choke about the kind of people to expect at this concert and yes, they're all here. The stereotypical Gruaniad readers with blissful knowing smiles and the faint smell of patchouli, gyrating purposefully like hippies at flowers festivals. The older, well-travelled middle classes looking at each other as if to say this is Real Music! Those young people today don't know what Real Music is! But we do, and we're here as well. During one of Emmanuel Jal's more aggressive songs they are smiling, nodding, even dancing and yet you wouldn't catch any of these people at any other sort of hip hop concert. You wouldn't catch them down the Croft checking out some really exciting and interesting new music even though they might really enjoy (some of) it. Maybe if it was advertised in the broadsheets...

It only annoyed me a little bit. On the other hand, it was nice to see such a wide variety of people enjoying themselves so much. Even if some of the men were a bit too distracted by all the young latino girls to notice the music.

Back to the gig. When the bad beats finally stop and the stage is washed clean, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia are brought on. They play some rousing afro-blues and all sorts of other Afrikan delights, even moving into disco for a bit. The music is full of the variety of influence that has been coming out of Mali, a fusion of Cuban and Western music with traditional styles.

I'll give up trying to describe it! We have a fun time dancing, I manage to stay in front of the tall people and while I am slightly disappointed that Manu Chao doesn't make a special guest appearance (his influence is all over the album) it's still a great night. If you haven't got the album yet, do so, it's well worth it!