ALL was bliss for two hours on Saturday night thanks to mellifluous music from Madagascar, produced by incredibly talented trio Toko Telo at the Sage Gateshead.

But with one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world - D'Gary - in the line up, there was only going to be one outcome for me.

Sitting a few feet away from the stage, I was awestruck by the hypnotic sounds produced by D'Gary's magical fingers and also completely perplexed as to how he did it.

Like all magicians, I guess he'll always keep this a secret.

And when he was joined by vocalist Monika Njava, whose voice pulled at your heartstrings; and left-handed guitarist Joël Rabesolo who dazzled the audience by playing an instrument strung for a right-handed player; the evening was complete.

Waves of rhythmic sounds created by the two guitars washed over the honoured group of people at the concert, leaving me even more spellbound, while Monika Njava sung stories of lost love, teenage angst, and villagers suffering at the hands of bandits.

At times, Joël Rabesolo used his electric guitar like a bass, reminding me of accomplished Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg. He also played a small six-stringed instrument which I'd never seen the like of before. Was there anything these musicians couldn't do?

If this is the standard of musicianship in Madagascar, I want to go there. But then again, for two brief hours on Saturday I was there in all but body.

'Thank you very much', said D'Gary at the end as we clapped and shouted for more.

Thank you very much yourselves Toko Telo. Please come back to the Sage Gateshead again.

Myles Hodnett