Thione Ballago Seck's spiritually charged, hard-driving music is a revelation. It's no surprise that Senegalese singers Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal are known around the world. But on sheer merit, Seck, who completed his 26th album Allo Petit in 2001, should be right up there with them.

Thione Seck descends from a line of griots--traditional praise singers and musicians--who sang for Lat Dor, the king of Kaylor who lead the Wolof people's resistance against the French in the 19th century. Seck began singing when he was twelve, and had a bit of a reputation in the local griot circuit during the late 1960s. When Dakar's legendary Orchestre Baobob formed in 1970 to play at the ritzy new Baobob club, they looked for a singer who could blend the blustery power of griot vocals with the pump and swing of Afro-Cuban music. They wanted to add a distinctly local element to their largely borrowed vocal sound. The search led to a Wolof griot named Laye Mboup, but in the end it was Mboup's student, the young Thione Seck, who got the job. Seck also sang with another landmark band, the Star Band, denizens of the Miami Club. He also maintained a family group during these years, singing traditional songs to the accompaniment of the xalam spike lute. In 1974, he saw a way to put it all together. Seck left Baobob and formed the group he still fronts today, Raam Daan. He told Afropop Worldwide, "Raam Daan means to achieve your goal, go easy and you will achieve it. But it is also inspired by the word Ramadan." That's the annual Muslim season of religious fasting. This play on words gives a small hint of the rich, multi-layered philosophy contained in Seck's song lyrics. The music itself requires no translation. Raam Daan plays mbalax music pur et dur ("pure and strong"). The sharp crack of sabar drums is the center of the band's electrifying percussion sound. Two guitars, two keyboards, bass and trap drums fill out the mix. But the thing that sets Seck apart is the way he sings floating, distracted, ethereal melodies over those tight, taught, driving grooves.

Seck says that a childhood fascination with Hindu films led him to favor Eastern modes. He told Afropop, "It's like the scales of the Spanish, Hindu, Greek, Arab musicians. Each time I compose a song, I put a few notes from this eastern scale, because that's what I love the most." The contrast between the band's edgy alertness and Seck's air of spiritual intoxication is likely to raise the hair on your spine. There is nothing quite like it in African pop music.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre