This year's Banlieue Rythme exploded in a riot of colour and musical exuberance, some 200 artists taking part in the annual extravaganza staged in Guédiawaye, north of Dakar. The 200-plus included those playing as part of the official line-up and those performing at the "off" festival – a gigantic street carnival organised on 5 May featuring rollerskaters, Peul acrobat-musicians, dance troupes and an appearance by French brass outfit Tarace Boulba. Spontaneity was the word of the day here, Ousmane Faye, the artistic director of Banlieue Rythme (and the man in charge of Katiciaka Communication, the agency that runs the festival launched in 2001) proclaiming that "participation was open to one and all!"

Faye can certainly congratulate himself on a job well done for this year, despite budget cuts (from 80 to 50 million FCFA, the equivalent of 122,000 to 76,000 euros) "2006 was undoubtedly the best Banlieue Rythme to date!" Faye confirmed that approximately 71,000 music fans had turned out to enjoy four days of concerts. Attendance figures were significantly up on 2005 when the organising committee counted a mere 40,000 festival-goers. However, judging by the timid – and largely Western – turn-out on the first night, no-one would have predicted such record-breaking figures.

Things got off to a fairly quiet start in the centre of Dakar on 4 May with an opening concert at the Institut français Léopold Sédar Senghor kicked off by Moustik, a young rapper from the suburb of Pikine. Next up on stage were Tarace Boulba, a brass band set up in France 13 years ago by two former members of Les Négresses Vertes (which has since gone on to become a truly multicultural international outfit). Tarace Boulba's zany trumpets and squealing horns were followed by a performance by the Yengoulène ballet. Then it was the turn of the Cape Verdeans: young "cabo love" diva Paulette and veteran music star Mariana Ramos, whose wide-ranging repertoire included traditional morna and coladera. Perhaps the low turn-out at the IFLSS was partly explained by the high price of concert tickets (3,000 FCFA, more than 4.5 euros) and the fact that the venue was located a good hour, even by some estimates an hour and a half's trip, from the suburbs.

Whatever the case, audience figures went up ten-fold on the second night of Banlieue Rythme when the festival moved to Guédiawaye and attendance was declared free for all. Guédiawaye, a dormitory town with a population of 500,000 (although some estimates put the figure at as many as a million, i.e. a tenth of the national population) has taken the festival to its heart in recent years. And, given that opportunities to see free concerts are few and far between – and the fact that most of the locals could never afford to buy a concert ticket even if they tried! – Banlieue Rythme has become an extremely popular annual event. "Everyone goes to Banlieue Rythme!" declares Fallou, one young member of the festival's 50-strong organising committee.

Fallou's words were very much confirmed on 5, 6 and 7 May when huge crowds thronged the Esplanade de la Cité des Enseignants in downtown Guédiawaye. Despite a brisk night-time breeze blowing in from the ocean and frantic jostling on all sides, children danced barefoot in open amazement, young girls paraded in cut-off tops displaying belly-buttons and teenage boys loped about in T-shirts and baggy jeans. Meanwhile mothers and grandmothers looked on from behind their veils, joining in the collective singing, clapping and dancing.      

Banlieue Rythme pulled out all the stops this year, putting together an impressive line-up at Guédiawaye and on neighbouring stages. Festival-goers were treated to quality performances from Madson Junior (a young 10-year-old singing prodigy from Burkina Faso) and his compatriots Les Soeurs Doga, Ideal Black Girls (an audacious all-girl foursome from Guinea), Senegalese rap stars Fatim and Ndiaya, The Bonvelela Dance Company from Brazil, DJ Jacob from Ivory Coast, rapper Fata and Omar Pène - aka the m'balax king of Senegal and this year's festival patron.

Banlieue Rythme 2006 included a number of musical highlights. But one of the most touching moments was the emotional home-coming of Mariana Ramos, daughter of the guitarist Antonio Ramos aka Toy de Bibia (a member of Voz de Cabo Verde, a Cape Verdean band who were big in the '60s and '70s).  The singer was born in Dakar, but had not set foot in the city since her family moved away when she was three years old. Mariana, who has lost most of her native Wolof vocabulary, discovered that her actual birthplace had been wiped out, too. "On the place where my family home once stood, there's a car park now," she mourned, "It was really strange to see that when I turned up to visit." Live on stage, Mariana proved that she had lost none of her passion for music and dance, however, giving vibrant performances of songs from her two albums (Di dor em or and Bibia).

Meanwhile, Banlieue Rythme 2006 also confirmed the unstoppable rise of a hot new musical talent: Abdourahmane Mamadou Pam – better known as rapper Moustik. 28-year-old Moustik, who was actually discovered at last year's festival, began his career as a dancer. But this shepherd's son has gone on to hone his own original style of rap, peppering his impeccable flow with squeals and oinks. Moustik, who proclaims he is "proud to be Peul and proud to come from the suburbs!", made such a lasting impression on the festival's artistic director Ousmane Faye that he now has an album coming out on the "Banlieue Rythme Musique" label this summer. "Yes," confirms Ousmane, "Banlieue Rythme is a project that now involves a studio, rehearsal space and building a catalogue. That's what we've been working on for the past three years." Looks like Guédiawaye and the sound of the Dakar suburbs is about to carve out its own place on the world music map.