London. On Sunday I met Baaba Maal. There is a long story behind this. When I first went to Senegal, seven years ago, I tried meeting with Baaba, and ended up following him around the country until I got so frustrated with nearly meeting him but not quite that I went to his house in Podor only to find out he had gone to Matam. I slept in the house, and after seven more years of futilely following him around, I gave up.

On Sunday a friend introduced us and he said, "Why have I never seen you in Dakar?". What could I say?

On Friday I went to a gig in Camden, in a small vegetarian restaurant called the Green Note. A Senegalese singer was playing with his band, and there were sixty people or so gathered. Half way through the gig, the singer made an anouncement:

"Tonight we have a very special guest here: Toumani Diabate."

For me, this is like meeting Baaba Maal. or Bob Dylan. Toumani is the world's finest kora player. His last album, recorded with the Symmetric Orchestra, was groundbreaking and beautiful. You can hear a track from it at the very bottom of this page He is someone I have written about and admired for years. And there he was, in a tiny bar in Camden, playing the kora.

Afterwards I went out onto Parkway and found him smoking a cigar, leaning on his walking stick, against the railings. I told him how honoured I was to meet him. I sounded like everyone else who probably tells him the same thing every day. But I didn't want any more time to go by and still not to have met this inspirational musician.

So, London has turned up some nice surprises. And now I am off again, this time to Freetown. Insh'allah.