Tiken Jah Fakoly / Asa

A big double header at the Barbican on Monday night, with two of Africa’s biggest acts in Asa and Tiken Jah Fakoly as part of its Spring Contemporary Events programme.

First up was Asa (pronounced Asha for those who are interested), a slightly built Nigerian soul style singer whose voice belies her appearance. Her voice is one of those ones that really makes you sit up and take notice, deep, powerful, heartfelt and frankly hard to describe, imagine those ones on the X-Factor that make you go "wow" but a whole lot better – and don't pretend you haven't seen it either, you're fooling nobody.

This was the only UK date in her current tour, and coincided with the launch of her new album 'Beautiful Imperfection', which raised two questions in my mind; Why on earth this was her only UK date and also how the album wasn't launched for mother's day. This isn't meant in a bad, James Blunt way, rather that Asa's music is the type that is impossible not to enjoy, and the sort of CD that if you'd bought for your mum you'd be genuinely happy to see her put on the stereo.

With a setlist covering new and old material and a 7-piece band in support, this is the sort of music that should be enjoyed outside on a sunny afternoon with a cold glass of something refreshing. Yet the lyrics are a lot darker than the upbeat brass tones suggest, with the catchy 'Why Can't We' essentially wondering why everything isn't just a whole lot better in the world - another new track, 'Be My Man' followed a similar theme. In 'Preacher Man' there's a serious contender for the next Bond theme, a twinkling slow melodic start building up to some serious riffs with a big powerful chorus that gives you real goosebumps.

The final song of the set 'Jailer' built up into a big finale that once again showed up both the power of her voice and the catchy enjoyable tunes that accompany it. Keep an eye out for future tours from Asa as many are predicting big things and it's easy to see why.

Next up Tiken Jah Fakoly...

You know a gig is going to be good when before the first song has properly kicked in, the crowd are already getting to their feet and dancing (The Barbican is a seating venue). By the end of the first song at least a third were standing and by the end almost everyone was in on the act from older couples to kids and even the heavily pregnant lady this reviewer was sat next to.

This was the very first UK appearance for Tiken Jah Fakoly and one suspects a lot of the people in this crowd had waited a long time for this night. With a unique fusion of French and his own Dioula language with reggae and at times even a bit of a ska feel, Tiken Jah Fakoly's music is hard not to have a bit of a dance to. This is also a man who has had his fair share of trouble getting to this stage, the subject of death threats over the years, his political lyrics have also seen him exiled from Senegal after criticising its Preident and has recently been living in exile from his home country of The Ivory Coast. Compared to the troubles in the UK of people refusing to leave Fortnum & Mason, this kind of puts things into perspective.

Each track blended into the next with little time for crowd interaction and many of the tracks were delivered with more gusto that the album equivalents keeping the crowd on their feet. Tracks such as 'Political war' slowed things down a bit, but for the most part this evening felt more like a party than a concert with Tiken constantly bouncing around the stage.

Also, kudos to the staff at the Barbican, after a few over enthusiastic people ran onto the stage they were just shepherded off and back to their friends. Having seen people thrown out of gigs for a lot less it's good to remember that the majority of security staff are actually human.

The only sore point from the evening was the lack of an encore, or at least not making the earlier one obvious. Granted with 8 other people on stage it's a bit of a faff getting off and on again, but as a result it felt as though there wasn't one and so when the evening ended with the fantastic 'Il Faut Se Lever', the crowd wanted more only to be disappointed.

After this evening it would be hard to imagine Tiken Jah Fakoly not returning to the UK soon. This sort of music is perfect for many of this summer’s festivals and if either Asa or him appear on a line-up, go grab yourself a drink and have a listen. You won't be disappointed.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.