Review: Ana Moura and N’Diale - Glasgow Old Fruitmarket

Imagine a Breton ceilidh, a fest noz, summarily transferred from the rocky shores of Finistère to a west African village, and you’ll get an inkling of the exuberant, utterly groove-driven collaboration that is N’Diale, uniting the Jackie Molard Quartet, led by one of Brittany’s foremost fiddlers, and a trio from Mali, fronted by the powerful female vocalist Foune Diarra

It might seem an odd cultural match, but once they got into their stride, one could understand how the often circular nature of Breton dance tunes might settle into the relentless rhythms laid down by the Malian trio’s kamele n’goni (a version of the kora harp-lute) and djembe drum. Diarra sang with forceful panache although everything tended to become subsumed into these unremitting grooves, cranked up to near-trance level, and underpinned by double bassist Hélène Labarrière, while Molard and saxophonist Yannick Jory interjected some tight riffing and lyrical melody lines.

There was much rhythm, also, in the gorgeous acoustic fretwork of Portuguese guitar, Spanish guitar and acoustic bass guitar which provided a glittering backdrop to the sultry, velvet tones of another singer of real presence, fado exponent Ana Moura.

As with the Breton-Malians, one might have welcomed a little more explanation of the songs, but the Portuguese singer’s combination of smouldering presence and impassioned delivery won over the audience with no difficulty, not least with her bilingual version of the old Stones classic No Expectations, made very much her own.

Rating: *****