The World Music Awards is now an established part of the British concert-music calendar. Moving to the Barbican after last year's party in Brixton seemed a curious move, but it fitted the music. This year's show was strong on classy performances from great veterans, but sadly light on new young bands offering any sense of innovation or danger. It wasn't that they had failed to win awards; they just weren't available. Even the Somali hip-hop star K'Naan, the most eagerly awaited artist, cancelled at the last minute because his wife has just had a baby.

It could all have been something of a disappointment, if it hadn't been for the magnificent Mahmoud Ahmed. The most celebrated singer from Ethiopia's "golden era", back in the early 1970s, he came on sporting grey hair and a white cloak, sounding like Africa's answer to a classic American R&B star. He was backed by a rock band and two saxophonists, and sang in a driving, distinctively strangled voice, mixing Amharic dance songs with echoes of north Africa. Four hours and 40 minutes after this epic event had started, he brought the Barbican crowd to their feet.

This was a lengthy concert because the award-winners were all allowed agree-ably long sets. The entertaining, if uneven marathon show had started with India's Debashish Bhattacharya and his virtuoso blend of delicate, rapid-fire ragas and the blues, played on his self-designed slide guitars. Then came the bestselling Gotan Project, matching electronics with strings, piano and accordion, followed by Lebanon's Ghada Shbeir, an elegant singer who was also classy but never rousing. Maurice El Medioni, the 79-year-old Jewish-Algerian pianist, followed on with his stylish blend of Latin, north African and jazz styles. A sophisticated show, then, but it needed the veteran Ahmed to inject some much-needed energy into the awards.