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Catching all the Global Hit-related acts on Saturday took some tight choreography, a little bit of hustle, and regular hydration.

First up was Brazilian-born, New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Riccardo Crespo, the day’s opening act on the Lagniappe Stage. Crespo’s relaxed style is rooted in the gaucho tradition of his native southern Brazil, but he’s added a lot of New Orleans flavors during his 13 years in the city.

He opened the set with “Madrugada em New Orleans,” the title track off of his new album. I’d met up with Crespo at his home in the Upper 9th Ward on Friday to talk to him about his music.

He told me that the Portuguese word “madrugada” describes a time right before dawn. Crespo said this is an enchanted time of day in his adopted city, when you can still feel the spirits wandering the narrow streets of the French Quarter.

Nearby, Grupo Sensacion and Mariachi Jalisco offered up spirited if conventional renderings of their respective traditions (the former a mix of cumbias, merengues, and salsas; the latter, you guessed it, mariachi).

Over in the Blues Tent, a packed crowd gave Bombino of Niger a boisterous welcome; it was the group’s first trip to New Orleans.

The quartet—two electric guitars, bass, and drums–is led by Touareg singer and guitarist Omara Moctar, who performs under the name Bombino. Check out Marco’s interview with Moctar and Ron Wyman, whose film “Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion” features Bombino.

The group plays a kind of Sahara-meets-Hendrix music, perhaps a bit more in the blues vein than their fellow Saharans Tinariwen. Moctar builds ebullient solos over repetitive pentatonic riffs and simple chord progressions. By the third song at JazzFest, Moctar was hopping and dancing his way through solos.

Midway through the set, the group moved from the minor-key jams into a pretty, lilting, major-key song. I moved next door into the Jazz Tent to catch a bit of Pedrito Martinez’s final JazzFest set.

You can read more about Martinez in my previous post.

I have to admit to totally missing Mexican pop sensation Paulina Rubio’s set, but I have two good excuses: Steve Earle and Aaron Neville.

After their sets, I capped my three days of festing in what seemed an appropriate way: a raucous set by the New Birth Brass Band.

Later that evening, I ended up talking to Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz. Arhoolie has been around for 50 years and has done a lot to document and champion American roots music.

Strachwitz has been coming to JazzFest since the early 60s when it was a much smaller affair that happened in Congo Square right across North Rampart Street from the French Quarter.

He remembers the first JazzFest he saw in 1961, which may have been the first one ever, having Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington among the headliners. But the group that really excited him was this lesser-known group who was playing a style with roots in 1920s New Orleans jazz.

That suggests at least one thing that hasn’t changed about JazzFest in the intervening 50 years: The real gems seem to be tucked away on smaller stages, just waiting for you to happen by.

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