Issa Bagayogo

Tassoumakan (Wrasse Records)

Issa topped the World Music charts in 2002 with Timbuktu, blending Malian roots music with Western dance technology, and Tassoumakan looks set to do the same.  Bringing the music of his country – the source of much of the world’s popular music – into the 21^st he’s created a defiantly African sound that is gritty, organic, and very compelling.  Gentle, rhythmic and melodic it’s not a sound you’ll be familiar with but one you should seek out to grab a flavour and a feeling of Africa.