Leanna Bales / The Current Bessekou Kouyate playing the Ngoni in the Ngoni Ba Concert at the Touhill on Wednesday.

The Center for International Studies’ International Performing Arts Series brought a wonderful concert by Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba to the Lee Theater in the Touhill Performing Arts Center on April 7. It was an evening filled with African music, dancing, much applause and contagious smiles.

The evening started with a presentation by Aurelia Hartenberger, Ed. D., about the instruments used during the concert, some dating as far back as the 14th century.

After the presentation, the performance began with beautiful music by the musician Bassekou Kouyate and his musical group. It was fascinating to watch them play, dance, and sing with such happiness, passion and, of course, talent. They all wore lovely traditional garments of purple and gold.

Bassekou Kouyate is a master of the ngoni, a traditional West African lute. His music is called Bambara, which comes from the region of Segu. The African music is similar to the blues, and is considered by many to be the African root of that American music.

Instantly the crowd was transported to West Africa, a completely different world from the theater in which they were sitting. It was amazing to see just how many melodies came from those simple lute-like instruments.

The musicians dazzled the crowd with their fast fingers and beautiful guitar solos.

Yells of appreciation rang out both from the crowd and from the stage for these solos. As the tempo and the energy built, the musicians were in their own world, and the crowd enjoyed seeing them in that world. They were truly at home on that stage.

The audience was very appreciative of the music, judging from the gleeful applause at the end of each song.

As the concert went on, Kouyate would ask the crowd if they were happy and this was always met with a series of “yeses,” applause and whistles of appreciation. The beats were rhythmic and the singing mesmerizing.

As the hypnotic music played, audience members could not help but tap their feet, clap their hands and/or bop their heads.

The musicians’ movements made it apparent that musicians are the same all over the world, and that no matter where one is in the world, one will always find a love of music.

At one point after a standing ovation, toward the end of the concert, the crowd was encouraged to dance along with the group. This was not hard to do, considering the crowd previously had been invited to sing along with the group.

Bassekou led the men, and his wife Ami, the “Tina Turner of Mali,” led the women. It was fun and made for a great atmosphere of unity and happiness.

This performance was enchanting and engaging. Not only did the crowd get to enjoy the talent, but the talent got to enjoy the crowd.

The music was bouncy and energetic, and so were the musicians and the crowd. It was with reluctance that everyone stood and clapped for the last time for Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba; they did a phenomenal job.

Hopefully they will come back soon, and once again enchant an audience at the Touhill. A+ –Amanda Roach