Habib Koité & Bamada at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation

 

Habib Koité playing in the midst of the not-so-few, the brave, the energetic - 
the people who got up and danced.

Heroic Pose, Crappy Photo

Towards the beginning of the two-hour set; 

the drummer - Souleymane Ann, I think! - also played the Calabash.

On the Talking Drum, Mahamadou Kone with Bassist Abdoul Wahab Berthé.

The Guitarist - Le Professeur Boubacar Sidibé! - and the Balaphonist - name unknown, sorry.
(ETA: The Balaphonist is Fassery Diabaté; thank you, anonymous tipster!)

The Bassist had this perpetually khadoos expression on his face. Why?

Koite kept the audience laughing with banter between songs, but he did make the serious point that he wants young Africans to dream of Africa - not the USA, not Europe but Africa. 

Like the song says, "L'Afrique fera son chemin..."

Habib Koite and Bamada - if you get a chance to see them, don't miss out.

They're playing Toronto the 25th of March as part of a North American tour, so definitely pencil that in.