The Fringe guide listing for this performance promises an ‘exuberant’ show full of 'impassioned vocals' and 'Senegalese soul'. Something must have gone wrong then, as the band has a backing singer looking distinctly bored for the majority, a bongo drummer who looks like a burnt-out investment banker and a percussionist who is reminiscent of my school IT Technician. In fact, the whole band sought a stressless middle-aged existence. But hey, let's not judge – Stevie Wonder and Elton John don't look like musicians either.Perhaps they would woo us with charisma and talent. Wrong. The only times the lead singer, Samba Sene, spoke were to tell us to buy his CD and to give excuses for their tiredness as they'd just arrived from another festival, oh and to buy their CD. Could we have felt any less valued as audience members?What makes it worse is that, besides there usually being an MCing thread of sorts in most gigs, we generally expect to at least know what is being sung. Here, the African-language lyrics are never contextualised by the band. Without the necessary MCing needed to make sense of the songs, they remain meaningless and lacked any depth. This is where the 'Senegalese soul' should be coming in, telling tales of African culture, but it isn't.Any real attempt to create an atmosphere is abandoned. Some of the band wear traditional clothes, but there's still a guitarist in a t-shirt and jeans, with IT Technician and IB Banker in very unauthentic Hawaiian shirts – and performing with your Assembly passes around your necks? Eugh.Admittedly, it was an uphill struggle for them to try and stay happy, never mind keeping us happy, given the teeming rain. Unfortunately, the undertaking of this task just reaffirmed my perception of this group as a lounge act, the warm-up on the bill, preparing us for better material to come.Certainly for the first half of the performance, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was nothing that I couldn't see on the street for free at various places in Edinburgh. While the lead singer had rugged charm and a lovely voice, and I'm sure he believed everything he was singing, it was inaccessible to me. I simply would not pay to see this show. If you like their music, buy their album.
