Avoudé
We Are Busy Bodies (30 mins)
Following on from his self-titled 2002 debut, Togolese singer and guitarist Dogo du Togo introduces his new Lomé-based Alagaa Beat Band with the album Avoudé, released on 8th November 2024 on Canadian label We Are Busy Bodies. Recorded in less than 48 hours under the watchful eye of renowned engineer Patrick Jauneaud (Elton John, Kate Bush, Queen), Avoudé represents a new evolution of Togolese music and makes a powerful cultural statement: hard-hitting Afro-funk that builds upon the country’s musical traditions while creating a new sound to energise its future.
After two decades of living in the US and fronting the successful Afro-pop band Elikeh, Dogo saw the popularity of music from across West Africa – but Togo was never in that picture. Now splitting his time between Washington, DC and Togo’s capital Lomé, he set out to create a brand new beat that can put Togo on the musical map and that Togolese people can rally around and hold as their own: the alagaa beat.
Combining iconic rhythms of the Ewe and Mina people, such as kpanlogo, kinka and bobobo, alagaa blossoms from a complex interplay between drum kit and rhythm guitar, with a distinctive double snare hit and a guitar part based on the traditional gankogui bell pattern. Alagaa means ‘trance’ in Ewe, “because when you listen to this music,” says Dogo, “if you don't get in trance, then something’s wrong with you! The alagaa beat brings the energy right away. As soon as you bring it in, it just feels different, it takes you somewhere else.” The melodies, too, are anchored in Togo’s cultural history, using unique pentatonic scales known as mina or mami, derived from the music of the local Vodún religion and traditions that permeate everyday life in Togo.
For this album, Dogo du Togo has gone back to his roots. The Alagaa Beat Band is a reunion of friends who grew up playing music together on the streets of Lomé in the 1990s – lead guitarist Oya Yao was the one who taught Dogo to play in the very first place. Although alagaa is born from the guitar and drums, the sound is bolstered by a powerful horn section, beautiful retro synths and the unusual but inspired addition of the electric violin. Like many West African pop styles, it has elements of funk, rock, soul and reggae, but these are used only in service of the alagaa, and demonstrate the adaptability and flexibility of this exciting new style.
The whole album was recorded live in less than two days at Lomé’s legendary Otodi Studios, with storied engineer Patrick Jauneaud behind the desk. It was far from comfortable, but the vibe was immaculate: “The studio was built by Americans in the 70s. It used to have AC built in, but it's not working anymore. There's no windows, nothing. And it was hot when we were recording, it was HOT, and it was really painful. But the thing is – the sound of that studio is so great. The acoustic is so great that we decided to do it anyway. Those are the conditions: we’re hot, we’re extremely tired, we have only 48 hours. But we hit it, and played live.”
The album’s opener and title track ‘Avoudé’ is what Dogo describes as “alagaa par excellence.” That’s the beat, all the way through, no messing about – a way to kick down the doors and get the energy flowing immediately. The song encourages its listeners to work hard and strive for the life they want: “Nothing is easy. Life is not a game, it is a hustle.” The song ‘Enouwo Lagnon’ continues that theme, taking the voice of a person who knows, no matter how hard things get, they can always make things better through hope, prayer and struggle, the lyrics punctuated to a pair of barnstorming solos on trumpet and synth. ‘Adzé Adzé’ is the only song on the album that doesn’t use the alagaa beat. Instead it’s based on the limping 12/8 agbadza rhythm – a martial beat, originally used to celebrate victorious warriors. It makes sense that this is also the most political song on the album, urging the youth of Africa to create a bright future for the continent and to refuse to allow their countries to become puppets of Western governments.
With Avoudé, Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band make a sound that is undeniably Togolese, steeped in the history of the country while making a contemporary sound that lights the way for exciting future directions. Get ready to be entranced by the alagaa beat – there’s a new style on Africa’s musical map.
Photo: Dogo du Togo & The Alagaa Beat Band, by Wilfried Good Eyes.