Beloved at home and abroad, the "Nightingale of Beledougou" has spent a lifetime carrying the traditional music far beyond her homeland, fighting to keep it alive in the modern world.At Bamako's Palace of Culture, Bagayoko spun like a top, her knees bending and body dipping low before springing back up again as she threw her head back and forth.In her right hand, she gripped a yabara, a percussion instrument made from a large calabash filled with dried seeds that rattled sharply as it struck her left palm.The sound blended with the deep notes of the n'goussoumbala, a large xylophone-like balafon unique to the Beledougou region of central-western Mali, long known for its rural musical traditions.
At the age of 88, the renowned musician still dazzles audiences with her infectious energy © - / AFP
Moments before, she had clasped her hands behind her back in a show of respect to protective spirits and griots, the guardians of the spoken word, before launching into powerful Bambara songs that evoke moonlit village gatherings.A towering figure in Mali's music scene, Bagayoko has spent decades bringing little-known local traditions to audiences around the world. In late 2025, she received a lifetime achievement honour at the Aga Khan Music Awards in London, emerging as one of 11 final laureates selected from more than 400 candidates across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.The jury, which included Malian star Oumou Sangare and renowned Catalan early-music master Jordi Savall, praised her "passionate and unwavering dedication" to preserving and passing on Mali's musical heritage, especially to women and girls.Sang before she spokeBorn in Kolokani, north of the capital Bamako, in Beledougou, where music and dance follow every stage of life from farm work to ceremonies, Bagayoko said she learned to "sing before I could speak".As a child, she would trail village women as they pounded shea nuts for butter, labour that was always accompanied by song."I joined them with my little calabash and sang along," she told AFP.
