It was a moment a true U2 fan would have paid thousands to see. On the banks of the river Niger, in Bamako, the capital of Mali, there was the chance to see Bono jamming with a local band, writes Larry Elliott.
Unfortunately for U2 die-hards, this was a gig that had an audience of barely two dozen - and at least half of those were part of Bono's entourage during his six-nation tour of Africa to monitor progress in the continent since last year's Gleneagles deal on debt relief and aid.
Bono said he felt moved to jam after watching the five-piece Samaguera perform at an open-air restaurant, La Pirogue. After a day of thunderstorms marking the onset of the rainy season, the U2 singer grabbed the microphone during the band's encore and - not being fluent in the local patois - proceeded to make up the lyrics to his own impromptu song, "Africa's sun is rising," as he went along.
"I'm not normally that keen on jamming," he said afterwards, "but it seemed the mannerly thing to do." Bono said that he understood for the first time how the roots of rock and roll were in those parts of Africa that became a centre for the slave trade. "There is the river, there is the delta, there is the cotton." It all falls into place. This is where rock 'n' roll started, you could argue.
The bad news for U2 fans is that there is no chance of securing a bootleg copy of the performance, which went unrecorded. The good news is that Bono goes back into the studio next month to start writing songs with the rest of the band. And he was in good voice.
