Orchestra Baobab

As temperatures outside drop below zero, Orchestra Baobab’s performance generates more than enough warmth on this late November night.

There’s common ground for the band and Berlin's Metropol hall, both sharing similarly illustrious pasts, while adapting to new audiences. Formed in the early 1970s at Dakar’s Club Baobab, the band has gone through many incarnations, having lost founder members over the years and welcomed new faces. The same, of course, can be said for this restored music hall/theatre/discotheque.

Tonight's turnout ranges from 20-somethings - who may be here thanks to music streaming algorithms - to an older guard perhaps more familiar with Baobab's earlier works.

The generations unite, perfectly encapsulated near the end of tonight's set when the entire crowd, regardless of hip and knee flexibility, is commanded to squat by Papino Koité, lead singer since 2020. There's laughter all round. Most of all, there's rhythm, and no shortage of those renowned draw-dropping guitar and saxophone solos.

With its descending chord sequence, Anna Maria becomes a mass singalong. Later, the pulse of Sibou Odia, from 1993 album, Bamba, has Metropol's shiny wooden dancefloor creaking.

Not a chin is scratched or wristwatch checked as the band take this crowd on a mesmerising afro-cuban musical journey.

With a new “Made in Senegal” album upcoming to celebrate its 50th year, the band has more European live dates in the diary, including London's Barbican.