Photo courtesy of Six Degress Records

Blurring the line between old and new is something that Bagayogo has been doing since his first album, Sya, in 1998. He uses the classic combination of a lone male voice and a small female chorus, in a call-and-response pattern; and in the tradition of Malian singers, who have always addressed social concerns, he often breaks into a kind of speech-song that sounds like a distant ancestor of rap. His lyrics, too, bridge old and new. Traditional concerns like ethnic and cultural pride are side by side with songs about AIDS and drug use.

Bagayogo himself kicked a nearly decade-long drug habit before recording his album Sya. He also continues to use the n'goni. The 3-string n'goni is considered a spiritual instrument so Bagayogo uses the 6-string version, which is more suitable for secular music.

Tassoumakan (meaning "Voice of Fire") is Issa?s third full-length CD for Six Degrees, and represents the maturing of an artist who has found a way to honor his country?s great musical traditions while creating a truly global, modern sound. His recordings are made in Bamako, Mali?s capital city, rather than one of the Afro-pop hit factories in Paris or London. Yves Wernert?s studio was set up in Mali in the early 1990s with the goal of allowing the musicians there to create their own brand of new music, and Bagayogo has done just that. His band includes some of Mali?s top guitarists, like Karamokou Diabate and Mama Sissoko, and the result is an organic mix of West African and Western pop.

Sya (1998)

Timbuktu (2002)

Tassoumakan (Six Degrees Records, 2004)