After two decades of living in the US and fronting the successful Afro-pop band Elikeh, bandleader Massama Dogo yearned to release music inspired by his home country of Togo. Now splitting his time between Washington, DC and Togo’s capital Lomé, he set out to create a brand new sound that put his roots and culture on the musical map: the alagaa beat.

Combining iconic rhythms of the Ewe, Mina, Ga, and Kabye people, such as kamou, kpanlogo, kinka and bobobo, alagaa blossoms from a complex interplay between the 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 a 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 album was recorded live over two days at Lomé’s legendary Otodi Studios and whilst far from comfortable, the vibe was immaculate as remembered by Dogo: “The studio was built by Americans in the 70s. It used to have AC, but it's not working anymore. There are no windows and it was HOT and really painful. But the thing is – the sound of that studio is so great that we decided to do it anyway. We only had 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 by a pair of barnstorming solos on trumpet and synth. Adzé Adzé, one of a few songs that does not use alagaa, is 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 and the Alagaa Beat Band make a sound that is undeniably Togolese, steeped in the history of the country while announcing to the world that Togo has something to say.