Singer and guitarist Serge Massama Dogo, aka Dogo du Togo plays Togolese music and ritual mixing alagaa trance music with African pop creating a distinct sound. Dogo draws from a deep well of sounds from across Togo, including bobobo, kamou, and kpanlogo rhythms, melodies, and scales drawn from Vodun religious rituals and others. But the bedrock of his band’s sound is the driving alagaa rhythm, a dizzying dance between snare drum and rhythm guitar, modeled on gankogui kinka bells. Alagaa means “trance” in the Ewe language, and its driving, irresistible beat is transporting.
