Senegalese musician Baaba Maal made the first sounds on the almost empty stage: spluttering fireworks of guitar notes that became the gentle, loping pattern for his song Danibe. Noumoucounda Cissokho added decorative kora. Then the man standing silently behind them twisted and turned his body into a solo dance, an elegant physical expression of Maal's spellbinding lead vocal.

Three hours later, the hall was jumping, and the stage was packed with a brassy, percussion-heavy band, crowded with dancers in dazzling costumes and lit like an Afrobeat Hollywood musical. It was a magical finale for the Southbank's month-long Africa Utopia festival, co-curated by Maal. In her introduction, artistic director Jude Kelly asked what the world might be like if the west listened to Africa; if our leaders were drawn from the world of artists and philosophers instead of the ranks of business and politics. Musically speaking, as this event made clear, the west has been listening to Africa for more than a century. Nearly every form of current popular music owes a big debt to African music – a debt that Africa generously wrote off many generations ago.

With a band that can play at every level of funkiness and sensitivity, Maal is every inch the West African superstar. There was a "compilation" aspect to the concert: the "and friends" tag meant many guest spots, including Angelique Kidjo (Benin), great ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate (Mali) and Mory Kanté (Guinea), singing his joyful hits Oh Oh Oh and Yéké Yéké.

Maal is unstoppable, filling the space with his voice and his presence, changing costumes, dancing, leaping, yet still remaining the perfect host, a genuine leader. We were continually reminded how closely entwined music and dance are in African culture: all the singers danced energetically, and the show featured young dancers from UK-based Kinetika Bloco, led by choreographer Georges Momboye (Ivory Coast), the solo dancer from the opening moments.