The first edition of Case Sanga (the Malian version of TV talent show Star Academy) has just come to an end, unleashing a host of hot young music hopefuls on the local scene. But it is Bako Dagnon, a singer from a much older generation, who has been hitting the headlines of late. Just a few weeks ago, a columnist in the Bamako daily newspaper L’Essor hailed Bako as "one of the great figures of traditional Malian music."

To her compatriots Bako - a former member of the Ensemble instrumental du Mali (a group which went on to become a veritable institution in their homeland) - has been part of the national music culture for over thirty-five years now. Bako is respected as a guardian of the Mande temple and its centuries-old traditions. And the late great Ali Farka Touré himself was said to have consulted her on several occasions, drawing on her encyclopeadic knowledge. However, despite the fact that Mali has launched an impressive number of artists on the international scene to date, Bako has remained little-known outside her homeland up until now.

Her contribution has largely been limited to guesting on albums such as Marc Minell’s Electro Bamako and Mandekalou, a collective of Malian griots assembled under the guiding force of Ibrahima Sylla. It was Sylla - a Senegalese producer who has played a fundamental role in developing the careers of numerous African artists over the past three decades - who finally stepped in and offered Bako the chance to take her career to a new level on her sixth album, Titati. Thanks to Sylla, Bako got to go into the studio with musical director François Bréant, a true connoisseur of Malian music whose arranging talent has already been put to good use for the likes of Salif Keïta, Thione Seck and Idrissa Soumaoro.

Working with Bréant’s attentive ear, Bako laid down twelve tracks (the majority of them recorded at Bamako’s Studio Bogolan). And the result is a mellifluous fusion of acoustic guitars, violin, flute and double bass, on which Bako’s vocals weave in and out of the arrangements as she part-sings, part-narrates. One of the most outstanding tracks on Bako’s new album is Donsoke, a song inspired by the story of a huntsman whose prowess is revered by all. The huntsman ends up bedding the king’s wife without realising her true identity and she finds herself with child. The basic story outline is actually not that important. In fact, listeners do not need to understand a single word of the lyrics to fall under Bako’s irresistible spell!

* ancestral praise singer