01 April 2009 (gig)
31 March 2009
You hear Kouyate before you ever see him and the notes from the Ngoni chime out to the hall in Reading. When he finally strides out, looking seven feet tall and dressed in a Boubous he is looking stern and serious. That he opens with the desperately heartwrenching ‘Lament For Ali Farka’ may have something to do with it but I got the feeling that the hall wasn’t to his liking. Fully thirty feet high and with a balcony that was kept empty, the hall seemed to suck all of the theatre and vitality from the music.
The performance of the band wasn’t an issue; as ever, they were playing beautiful music with some subtle and humorous touches but the looks between the individuals didn’t have the unstated joi de vivre that I have seem from Ngoni Ba in the past.
Ami Sacko was her usual effervescent self and her voice was just about perfect for the hall, ringing out and inviting the audience to listen closer but still not enough to really lift the performance of the band as a whole.
No-one was playing anything less than note perfect and the rhythm section was delivering with all the backing sounds – Alou Coulibally as impish as he always is – and the band got a few ‘Shadows Walks’ together, much to the amusement of the audience, with Ami Sacko leading them and when they were given solo spots they were well received by the crowd but still the performance just couldn’t get out of cruise gear.
Kouyate remains a magnificent player and the band he has put together still make music of a standard that astounds me but this was the wrong hall and maybe the wrong audience and while it was never less than enjoyable I always hope for more.
