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Posted on Sat, Apr 10, 2010 : 11:55 p.m.

Baaba Maal brings joy and love to Michigan Theater show

By Will Stewart

Baaba-2009-color-by-Tyrone-Le-Bon.jpg

Baaba Maal

photo by Tyrone Le Bon

Baaba Maal didn’t need to sing in English to engage an astounded Michigan Theater audience on Saturday. And the crowd had no trouble letting the Senegalese singer know they were behind him all the way.

Maal sang in the universal language of joy and, on Saturday, it was infectious.

“How do you feel about love?” Maal pleaded early in his 90-minute performance sponsored by the University Musical Society. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

That’s the kind of vibe Maal projects. Whether he’s singing softly, accompanying himself on classical guitar, or urging his octet into yet another level of dance pyrotechnics, the feeling of love and peace and harmony is never far off.

No matter what language you listen to him in.

On Saturday, Maal started softly, singing and strumming a plaintive blues, while his bandmates appeared to be settling in behind their instruments. But by the second tune, Maal already started shedding his layers of African robes, ditched his guitar, and began the dance party.

“This is an African party,” he said. “In an African party, there’s a thing between the entertainers and the audience and I can feel it happening.”

Indeed, as the band launched into one after another impossibly infectious numbers — anchored by Massamba Diop’s insistent talking drum and Momadou Sarr’s percussion — many in the audience were moved to run up on stage and spend a moment or 2 dancing to the music.

And it was clear as the smile widened on Maal’s face, that that’s what he had come to accomplish. Will Stewart is a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com.