It was the Toubab Quartet, rather than the full Krewe, that took the stage at Woodlands Tavern. 

With bassist Justin Kimmel away, guitarist Drew Heller played a hybrid Hellcat six-string bass, giving the band plenty of bottom end but only a smattering of guitar sounds. This put extra emphasis on the exotic percussion of Luke Quaranta and Justin Perkins’ kora and kamelngoni, African stringed instruments from the harp family. But neither Heller nor the audience seemed to mind; the axeman smiled nearly as much as the fans danced throughout the 110-minute show. 

While the music was different, less melodic and more rhythmic, it remained tight as the Toubabs rolled through unfamiliar arrangements of familiar, inspired-by-Malian-culture compositions like “Hang Tan,” “Djarabi” and “Autorail.” 

Despite, or owing to, its reduction in force—Heller played no keys and Perkins forsook the guitar—the Krewe dug deeper than usual into its groove as Quaranta and drummer Terrance Houston, working extra hard and serving as onstage emcees, were sweat-soaked by the second number. 

Perkins, too, was in the figurative and literal spotlights as he coaxed sounds of turntable scratching, keyboards and ethereal shamanism from his 21 strings that glowed green and blue under Woodlands’ house lights. 

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the band dedicated “Area Code” to Columbus, Ohio’s, 614 and took the Saturday-night audience on a 13-minute tour of Western Africa via “Maliba,” a tempo- and style-shifting piece that had Quaranta closing his eyes, throwing his head back and making faces to rival Dead & Company’s John Mayer as he pounded his percussion implements with his hands and sticks. 

The Toubabs may have taken themselves out of Mali. But they took a piece of the country where they learned their craft, blended it with their U.S. roots and crafted a Krewe that is not to be missed.