The story of Orchestra Baobab gives hope to any band who dreamed of making it big but disbanded after failing to break through.

Orchestra Baobab are slightly different, as they achieved some success in their native Senegal, but fell out of fashion and split up just before the Western world discovered African music.

However, World Circuit records re-released their most famous album, Ken Dou Werente, as Pirates Choice and they were discovered again.

It is not pure coincidence that there seems to be a parallel with the success of the Buena Vista Social Club, as the band made its name playing a succession of rumbas and cha-cha-chas, mixed with African styles and sung in Wolof. But when they hit the Dome on Friday, Latin beats dominated the evening.

The star of the show was undoubtedly guitarist Barthélemy Attisso, a lawyer who had at one time retired from music. His fluid playing enhanced the rhythms and proved the law’s loss is music’s gain.

Tenor saxophonist Issa Cissoko was at the forefront of much of the audience interaction – he’s a fine player, so perhaps less clowning and more playing might have been in order. But that is a minor quibble, as this is a fine band who laid down a groove that had the audience dancing all night.

For the encore, the band invited two young girls from the audience to dance with them. Despite it being well past their bedtime, they jived along to the rhythm in fine style – but then, it was hard not to dance.