The double bill of Guinea's Bembeya Jazz with Mali's Super Rail Band was presented as a battle of the bands, calling to mind Clash v Sex Pistols, Blur v Oasis. Yet these two bands go back even further; the predominant feel was of 1970s Afrobeat, a pulsing cocktail of bass, congas and/or djembe, kick drum, hi-hats and the occasional cracking snare, all washed down with rippling multiple guitar figures.
Each band is fronted by a virtuoso lead guitarist. The 10-piece Bembeya Jazz, who opened the concert, have Sekou Bembeya Diabate, also known as "Diamond Fingers"; the eight-strong Super Rail Band have Djelimady Tounkara. Bembeya is like a super-tight soul review, with shouting horns and two superb rhythm guitarists as foils for Diabate's dazzling breaks: he is an instrumentalist who can say everything in eight bars, who can give a two-note hook a personal spin. This is down to his sound, plus his skill as a melodic, audacious improviser.
The well-drilled band never flagged, turning on a sixpence from funk to grooving triplets, with the odd bravura ensemble passage between guitar solos. Like some of Zappa's best bands, they make complex arrangements sound easy and fun to play. And Diabate is a great communicator: whether singing, playing or announcing the numbers, he really wants the people to have a good time.
By contrast, Tounkara is something of a musician's musician, with an elliptical, slow-burning style: at times he is content to stick with one repetitive, mellifluous phrase and let it build. The Super Rail Band is more of a stadium band, with big, cinematic numbers that create a dramatic backdrop for the impassioned singing of Damory Kouyate and Samba Sissoko. At the Barbican, they took a while to get going - the slower numbers exposed some weaknesses in the rhythm section - but Tounkara was on fine form, a giant, axe-wielding angel in white robes presiding over his comrades. His sound is more rock'n'roll than Diabate's, though he has a way of articulating individual notes that no Brit or Yank rocker would dream of doing.
The only thing close to a "band battle" was a brief, good-natured kickabout when the Bembeya guys came back on stage for a little friendly instrument-swapping. And there was one historical moment when Diabate strapped on Tounkara's guitar and let rip with a string of diamond-bright notes.
