Yeasayer, Fool's Gold Join African Troubadours at L.A. Show

Perhaps a music festival's biggest asset is its ability to bring musicians together, which is exactly what happened Sunday night at Los Angeles' historic Hollywood Bowl. The first of KCRW's monthly World Festival concerts, the evening was a brilliant mash-up of indie rock's hippest bands with trans-continental vigor -- Yeasayer and Fool's Gold -- and some of Africa's biggest music stars -- Tinariwen and Baaba Maal.

"I met them at Coachella a few years ago," TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone told Spinner about how he first met Mali's Tinariwen. Malone crept on stage during the band's set, where the traditional melodies of Tinariwen's Sahara had been reinterpreted on multiple electric guitars putting a modern twist on sweltering desert rock. Tinariwen have released three albums, with 2007's 'Aman Iman' being the most recent. The group became legends in drought-infested northern Africa -- Tinariwen means "desert" in their native Tamashek -- after their songs of exile, hardships and rebel fighting became the anthems of the region's nomads.

Members of Tinariwen also came out during Fool's Gold's four-song set, which at one point had five drummers onstage for the Hebrew-sung 'Ha Dvash.' African polyrhythms are a trademark for the L.A. collective, who study and borrow from Congolese to Ethiopian cultures, while frontman Luke Top alternates between Hebrew and English lyrics. "Some of out favorite bands have played here," Top told the crowd during their set, "today notwithstanding."

Yeasayer's nine-song set started on a mellow psychedelic note with swarming tracks 'Wait for the Summer' and '2080' and gradually built up to the Brooklyn trio's newer pop-centric tracks 'O.N.E' and 'Ambling Alp.' Looking out into the crowd, all frontman Chris Keating could see was darkness. "This is beautiful," he said of being able to play with Africa's finest troubadours. The band closed up the set with the slow dance song 'Grizelda.'

"See how the moon is shining down on the Hollywood Bowl," Maal said of the night, which reminded him of the stars in Africa's skies. "This is a great year for Africa!" the Senegalese singer exclaimed, referencing the World Cup going on in South Africa. During his set, Maal expressed that he hoped the attention the continent was getting would also bring changes and help modernize its women, who are still forced to walk for miles to get fresh clean water for their babies. He even wrote a song that he played that evening on the sentiment, 'African Women.' But Maal's standout tune is 'Television,' a track that touches on James Brown soul, Bob Marley reggae the traditional Djembe drum sounds of western Africa. And just as the musicians came together, the music showed it can bring people together no matter where they're from.