Track Listing

1. Sebero
2. Filaw
3. Poye
4. Tcheni Tchemakan
5. Dibi
6. Dunu Kan
7. N' Tana
8. Ahe Sira Bila
9. Namadjidja
10. Fimani
11. M'Ba Fodi

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28764 in Music
• Brand: Dig
• Released on: 2008-08-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .15 pounds

Album Description
Issa Bagayogo, Mali Koura

Customer Reviews

Emotional and organic.
This album has something for everyone and recalls music past without ever sounding contrived or forced.
Mali's Issa Bagayogo has finally found some success but it has been hard.
The failure to hit nationally in the mid-90s left him driving a bus and a descent into drug addiction was followed by his wife walking out.
After a stint living with his mother in the countryside, Issa quit drugs and moved to Mali's capital Bamako and his fortunes changed.
His beautiful 2004 album "Tassoumakan" laid the groundwork for Mali Koura, on which the ancient and modern elements are more seamlessly blended into a sound and style that harks back to native traditions through springy ngoni lines and the occasional marimba, but which is perfectly contemporary thanks to the keyboards used to create dancefloor grooves.
With his trusted Ngoni, a six-string version of a sacred banjo-like instrument, his serpentine approach to composition uses Malian acoustic traditions, punchy Seventies Afro-beat, rock and even the more basic rhythms of house.
Issa's burnished, low-key vocals function as the bridge between the flexible backbone of his rattling and rolling n'goni riffs and the lush layered horns, jazzy piano, honey-sweet backing vocals and sporadic interjections of tasteful electronica.
He's still working with the French producer Yves Wernert, who provides anything from bass and backing vocals to synth and programming.
As mentioned before, Bagayogo plays the long-necked kamele ngoni, and most of the tracks start with his fine twanging, setting up a sturdy riff that is then embellished with chanting female vocals, bursts of electric guitar, sudden drifting synth passages, a wash of brass or dub, or slinky jazz-tinged keyboards.
It's a far more confident blend of styles than in the past, and works best when his songs are less cluttered with effects.
It's easy to predict to that Issa Bagayogo will be the next musician to step up from Mali's local scene to global recognition, following Tinariwen, Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyaté and Amadou & Mariam..
It is an album of emotional intricacy, that sounds utterly organic despite its myriad threads.
My favourite tracks: "Sebero", "Poye" and "Tcheni Tchemakan".
Tassoumakan
Aman Iman: Water is Life
Segu Blue
Welcome to Mali
The Mande Variations

Raise your standards AND have some fun!
What the #%@! is wrong with America? This is some of the most exciting music being made anywhere in the world today. It may be smooth but it's NOT boring. It's warm and alive and soulful and inventive. I just took a friend to go see Issa Bagayogo at Yoshi's in Oakland, and my buddy was bending strangers' ears half an hour later about how great this guy is. Get this cd! Now. Put down those U2 imitators, the Jay-z wannabees, and god help us, the American Idol losers, and pick up some real music for a change. Geez.

Amazingly Smooth
Issa should be appealing to anyone who likes good smooth music. I spend most of my time on the road and Issa is always in the mix. "Mali Koura", the latest release form Issa Bagayogo is his best to date. I have read many reviews of his music and I must say that I don't know as much about his background as some, but I can tell you one thing for sure - this guy has one of the smoothest/coolest voices ever. I don't have a clue as to what he is saying, but I just don't care. I make it up as I sing along to it. This is sort of Jazz - Afro-Beat - Chill all rolled into one nice package.