A frontline of percussionists on djembe, sabar and conga drums beat out a fierce welcome. Then, from somewhere behind us, there it was. The same voice that soared – giant, powerful, timeless – over a mythical landscape in the opening minutes of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The voice that introduced a multitude of newcomers to African music, resonating around all three tiers of the Barbican with the easy strength that comes from singing unamplified to hundreds of people in Podor, a town in far north Senegal.
The voice of Baaba Maal.
