POP MUSIC REVIEW : Slow Buildup Leads to a Nice Payoff for Maal

Baaba Maal’s show at the House of Blues Wednesday was a triumph of small steps. The Senegalese singer struggled all night to integrate seemingly disjointed musical and performance elements into a cohesive whole, and he ultimately succeeded.

Maal shares the striking Islamic-influenced vocal sound of his countryman Youssou N’Dour and Mali’s Salif Keita, and his 11-piece band delivered complexly structured music built on percussion and keyboard accents. But for long portions of the set, the audience appeared to be more respectful than involved.

Strong music emerged, but only in spurts--like a misfiring car, the performance ran smoothly for a few minutes and then fell out of sync, preventing the development of a smooth flow or momentum.

But things began picking up after a two-song acoustic segment in mid-set: a dash of reggae rhythms and a touch of rumba, then a piece where the arrangement dropped away to leave Maal’s thrilling voice in the spotlight, and a surprising blitz of hard-rock lead guitar to cap the encore. Maal may not have delivered everything the full house wanted, but the enthusiastic response showed he finally did make a connection.