Issa Bagayogo

Issa Bagayogo is a kamel n'goni player from Mali who burst on the world music scene in the late 1990s, with his first two releases Sya, and Timbuktu. He is known for his compelling mix of electronica with Malian roots music, earning him the moniker "techno Issa". Born in 1961 in a rural community south of Bamako, Issa first learned to play the daro, an instrument made of iron and used to encourage the workers in the fields to work harder. By his early teens he took up the kamel ngoni, a six-stringed harp adapted from the original ngoni, a three-stringed hunter's harp. By the early 90s Issa moved to Bamako to pursue a musical career.