FOR those who don’t know, Baaba Maal is one of the biggest-selling African musicians of all time, a superstar in his native Senegal, and an ambassador for the United Nations.

He also has one of the most striking voices you will ever hear.

Which makes it a bit of a shame that for much of this show, the beginning of his first “speaking” tour of the UK, he remained silent, with his guitar resting at his knee.

Those of us who haven’t seen him perform live in a full musical show before might have found it slightly frustrating that we were only treated to a handful of songs in between a series of lengthy, and fairly rambling, questions from the British playwright Kwame Kwei- Armah. But it was a rare treat to hear Maal recount stories of his youth in West Africa, and his life on the road ever since, and there was a palpable chemistry between the two men which hard not to be charmed by.

Maal certainly relished the opportunity to talk, and the nice informal mood led to some interesting exchanges between the icon of Afro-beat and his North-East fans.

He speaks engagingly on the unifying power of music, and the important role it can play in addressing the troubles of his homeland. But the question that provokes the biggest stirring among the crowd was about his startling youthfulness.

Kwei-Armah asks him how, at the age of 57, he manages to look at least two decades younger, and Maal replies, simply, “music keeps me young”.

That much is clear. When he does get the chance to sing, he does so with the open-hearted wonder of youth.

At one point, he breaks into a cover of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, but the highlights were found in songs from his own catalogue, as he strums the sounds of the West African kora out of his acoustic guitar, and that unmistakable voice soars.

John McFarlane