Djougoh

Malian singer Nahawa Doumbia keeps it simple on our highlighted track “Djougoh.” A powerful voice, strings, and some light percussion. Her style of singing originates in a style of music called wassoulou. We defer to Wikipedia on this one:

Wassoulou music is performed mostly by women. Some recurring themes in the lyrics are childbearing, fertility, and polygamy. Instrumentation includes soku (a traditional fiddle sometimes replaced with modern imported instruments), djembe drum, kamalen n'goni (a six-stringed harp), karinyan (metal tube percussion) and bolon (a four-stringed harp). The vocals are often passionate and emphatic, and delivered in a call-and-response pattern.

There’s no call-and-response on “Djougoh,” but there’s plenty to be had elsewhere on her LP Kanawa. Her voice carries the song by itself just fine.

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