Guest
Bombino provided a perfect re-entry to Rock the Garden following the two-year hiatus. Backed by insistent drums, growling bass and jangling rhythm guitar, Bombino launched into blues-tinged North African grooves, tracing pentatonic-scale shapes up and down the fretboard of his chiming electric guitar. Dressed in bubus, traditional Taureg attire, Bombino and his bandmates — Kawisan Mohammed (rhythm guitar), Youba Dia (bass) and Corey Wilhelm (drums) — soon got a sizeable number of the crowd dancing joyfully in front of the stage, matching the band’s irresistible rhythms. Interaction with the audience was sparse, but the music did the talking. “English is very hard for us,” admitted bass player Dia, alternately switching from English to French, the latter of which was met enthusiastically by a not insignificant francophone contingent in the audience. The songs flowed seamlessly from one to the other, maintaining an upbeat spirit throughout the set. “With Bombino, there’s never a setlist,” Wilhelm
