Dancing Barefoot with Baaba Maal at the ICA

Sitting still and listening politely was not an option.

Baaba Maal wanted his audience on their feet and dancing.

And that’s just what they did, last Sunday night at Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art.

That crystal cubed temple to contemporary culture along the Charles River was bopping to Maal’s Senegalese beat.

Baaba Maal is a renowned guitarist and a powerful singer.

His voice captures your attention and sets your imagination soaring.

I use Baaba Maal’s music as cutaways on The World (here, here and here for example).

So when my colleague Amy Bracken, ( she reports on Haiti for The World) sent me an e-mail letting me know that Baaba Maal would be performing at the ICA, I had to go.

He has an incredible range of style. Sometimes haunting and reflective:

SONG: Muudo Hormo
ARTIST: Baaba Maal
CD TITLE: Djam Leelii: The Adventurers
CD LABEL: Palm Pictures

then playful and joyous:

SONG: Fa Laay Fanaan
ARTIST: Baaba Maal
CD TITLE: Missing You (mi Yeewnii)
CD LABEL: Palm Pictures

And when Baaba Maal’s music is upbeat, everyone gets up.

The audience at the ICA danced!

They danced by their seats,

They danced in the aisles.

Some even kicked off their shoes and shimmied on down to the performance floor.

Fans dancing as Baaba Maal preforms at Boston's ICA

It was my first time at the ICA’s grand new space and I was attempting to be dignified. But it’s hard to keep your seat when Baaba Maal gets a party going.

So I got up and danced. I kept my shoes on. Wished I had kicked them off.

See a video of Baaba Maal performing live at the Tabernacle.