The following day, Issa Bagayogo jammed out in his Malian groove with his band. He is pictured here playing a six-stringed harp called kamele n'goni. His two backup singers, Constance Meledji and Diazeynab Barry, brightened up the stage with their voices and colorful outfits.

Cheikha Rimitti, known as Queen of Algerian Rai music, took the stage later, but only after the audience was brought to their feet by the belly dancing show. Rimitti, returning to Central Park Summer Stage after last year's show, gave an outstanding performance, never mind that she is 79; everyone, including herself, was shaking their hips and moving their bellies to the music.

In Prospect Park, on July 13, the African Festival brought everyone together to dance, eat great food, and relax in the park. The atmosphere of this park seems much more relaxed and festive than the Summer Stage, probably because it lies in the center of a neighborhood instead of a business district. Unfortunately I missed the performances by Rokia Traoré and Coco Sukali, but I did see Wumni Olaiya, a Nigerian singer from the U.K., Hassan Hakmoun, from Morocco, and Femi Kuti from Nigeria.

Wumni was dynamite on stage. She finally showed me what African dance is all about. Her performance energy was so great that she brought the whole audience wheeling into her orbit as she circled the hour that her show lasted.

Hassan Hakmoun and his group Zahar play traditional Gnawa music and mix Arab and Berber sounds into the Gnawa style. Hassan plays the sintir, which is a 3-string long neck lute, shown in the picture.

Femi Kuti, son of the famous Fela Kuti, afrobeat sensation, totally rocked the park, sending sparks flying from his saxaphone, his keyboard, and his microphone, as he and his band, Positive Force, closed the festivities of the night. Femi is creating his own style of afrobeat, apart from his fathers, but still connected, that reaches out to a wider audience and takes a new stance on many political issues.

On July 14, Super Rail Band performed at Summer Stage, and to our delight, Banning Eyre joined the eight-piece band on guitar for a few songs. This West African band with members from Mali and Guinea started back in the early 70s during times of political struggle, ethnic music like the manding swing, became a popular source of national pride. This band has been around for three decades and still has a powerful sound.

Angelique Kidjo played at Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City on July 31 to an audience that evolved from sun-basking picnickers into a lively crowd, dancing and singing along to the music. The Brooklyn resident explained that she had originally planned to leave for Japan that night but said "'No, I'm playing for New York, I leave tomorrow, so, you better get up and dance!!"
She established a great intimacy with her audience between each song, emphasizing her messages, "Ladies we all know we can be whatever we want, right?" She told the story of her entrance into the music scene from a child performing in Benin, to the international sensation she is now. Kidjo became so involved with her audience that she invited everyone on stage and then went out into the crowd to dance in the grass.

Coco Sukali played Aug 3 at the Jamaican Art and Music Festival in Queens. The artist and his band played on a small stage, but had no small sound; their Soukous music went on for a good hour, putting the crowd on the sunny street into a dancing frenzy, bringing members of the crowd on stage to dance with them at the end. Congolese Soukous music is a hip-swinging rumba that has been part of the hub of African dance music for decades.

Ely Guerra and Si*Sé entertained the crowd in Prospect Park this past Friday, Aug 9, with their infectious latin grooves. It was my first exposure to Ely, and I was amazed. She had a very powerful presence on stage. The singer songwriter, from Mexico, played Friday and again Saturday at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square to promote her newest album Lotofire. Her strong sense of pride for her country and her unique style of singing and dancing show her potential as a rising star.