The West African foursome were tailed in popularity by Japan's Shinitchi Kinoshita who led another dynamic quartet. Like Guinean Sékou Kouyate Kinoshita wields his traditional instrument as if he were thrashing an electric guitar. Yet his three-string Tsugaru-shamisen 'banjo' respectfully builds on a century-old tradition from northern Japan and harmonises powerfully with booming percussions and the gentle playing of the koto and shinobue instruments.

This delicate balance was echoed by DAAU, one of the surprise packages of WOMEX 2004. The four classically-trained musicians from Antwerp present an intriguing balance of avant-garde interpretations of folk rhythms and swinging dance tunes that were given the thumbs up by most of those attending.

The triphop of Soapkills had a more mixed reaction in a vast Hall 5 perhaps less suited for their flowing Oriental style. Lebanese duo Yasmin and Zeid Hamdan fronted the four-person band in an electroacoustic voyage pleasantly tinted by Yasmin's abstract vocals. Further down the road, Brazilian Badi Assad illuminated the offWOMEX with her osmosis between popular, classical and jazz guitar-playing. 20 years after winning Rio's Young Instrumentalists Contest award, Badi's solo performance here literally oozed with self-confidence and maturity.

These are qualities we have come to expect from qawwali master Faiz Ali Faiz. The Pakistani vocalist somehow honed his age-old art down to the statutory 45-minutes he was allocated. He confirmed his reputation as worthy inheritor of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's crown and brought a curtain down on a day rich in diversity and exchange.

Daniel Brown