As we push our way through the crowd hustling towards the centre of the Marais, our ears are assaulted by the sound of heavy techno beats thundering from giant speakers set up on the pavement outside the neighbourhood's gay bars. We're obviously got some way to go before reaching Bamako, we think to ourselves! But a few streets further we hear the haunting sound of the kora echoing on the night air – and, following its trail, we end up in the beautiful cobbled courtyard of the Musée Carnavalet, a building normally dedicated to retracing the history of Paris. Tonight, however, all eyes are focused on Ballaké Sissoko and his kora.
Sitting on a temporary stage erected in the middle of the courtyard, Ballaké and three musical accomplices on the balafon, the kamale n'goni and the bolon, have transformed Carnavalet into an African village square where listeners flock to hear the wise words of the local musician and storyteller known as the griot. The atmosphere is so authentic that the musicians from Bamako's Super Rail Band gathered in the audience actually get up on stage and honour their traditional custom, slipping a fistful of Euros into the hand of singer Mama Draba – who is here accompanying her husband's band.
Within a few minutes the audience are totally caught up in the kora groove, swaying along to the music with a faraway look in their eyes. Half an hour into the set the music comes to an abrupt halt, however, and Mama Draba and the band file off stage. It seems that no-one has thought to inform Ballaké and his musician friends that they're due to play for more than thirty minutes tonight! Leaping up on stage, the group's producer Christian Mousset urges his musicians to pick up their instruments once again. But the audience's curiosity has been stirred – and fans surge forward with one accord, begging the musicians to let them see their weird and wonderful instruments at closer quarters before they clamber back on stage.
For, make no mistake about it, the Fête de la Musique has installed a real spirit of dialogue and exchange between musicians and the public. This is, after all, the one night of the year where barriers come tumbling down and the audience get to have direct contact with the artists (and vice versa, of course!) What's more, given the warm temperatures on this balmy June evening, the public have turned out in full force and merry groups of school kids, students, families and foreign tourists wander the streets of the capital in search of the next happening sounds.

After enjoying the Malian music at Carnavalet we traipse round the corner to rue Pavée and join the crowd thronging through the gates of the "Bibliothèque historique de Paris". Here, in another beautiful cobbled courtyard, another historic musical event is taking place – this is the first Paris show by Bamako's Super Rail Band in three years! The public have turned out in force to see the Malian supergroup which nurtured future 'world' stars such as Salif Keita and Mory Kante in its ranks. The courtyard of the 16th-century hôtel particulier, more used to receiving horse and carriages than musicians in its midst, is soon echoing to the sound of the Super Rail Band and the crowd are going wild.

Squeezing this brief appearance in between a couple of French dates and a tour of Switzerland and Canada, the Super Rail Band bring the house down in rue Pavée, playing a vibrant one-and-a-half-hour set. And the audience are aware they're being given a rare musical treat – for the legendary group never play together in Bamako these days, so catching them live on tour is the only option! The thousand or so spectators packed into the courtyard of the "Bibliothèque historique de Paris" are leaping about to the sounds of Mandingo rock while outside a human traffic jam blocks the entire street as hundreds more fans try to push their way through the gates. Meanwhile, the fun continues inside, as excited members of the audience clamber up on stage to perform a few impromptu dance steps with the band.

Given the enormous popularity of the "Mandingo circuit" organised in the Marais, the neighbourhood's narrow streets are soon impassable by car. And an hour into the evening even those on foot appear to be having trouble getting from one concert to the next! Pushing our way though the throng we're determined to make it to our next stop-off point to listen to Malian duo Amadou and Mariam. Before we reach the old stone walls of the Hôtel d'Albret (the current headquarters of the "Affaires culturelles de la Ville de Paris") we can hear the catchy sound of the duo's Mandingo r'n'b drifting up the street. And when we finally make our way into the courtyard the atmosphere is more like a full-scale rock concert than a traditional African show. But this is hardly surprising given that Amadou and Mariam – aka "the blind couple from Mali" – are renowned for possessing the same dynamism and on-stage charisma as Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder combined!
After getting down to Amadou and Mariam's rocking r'n'b we make one last stop on our musical tour of the Marais to listen to the Afro-electro groove of Marc Minelli. The French rocker from Le Havre recently teamed up with Malian diva Mamani Keïta and introduced a touch of Mandingo magic to his dance beats. However, we're sad to say that while the magic certainly functions in the pair's recording work, performing live on stage can be a tricky challenge for artists from two such radically different musical worlds (a problem also encountered by Frédéric Galliano and his African Divas).

But this one small hiccup aside, we have to say that the "Fête de la Musique" remains one of the best musical nights of the year. After all, how often do you have hundreds of different concerts taking place simultaneously in the four corners of the world? And for those who rarely or never get the chance to travel surely nothing on earth beats music from the other side of the world turning up on your own doorstep! All we can say is, the inhabitants of the Marais certainly seemed to appreciate their neighbourhood being transformed into a Malian super-village for one balmy summer night!

Pierre René-Worms