Dogondoutchi is a city located in the east of the Dosso Region of Niger. With a population of 29,244 (2001 census), Dogondoutchi is the largest city in and administrative center of the Dogondoutchi department, the easternmost section of Dosso Region.

Sitting just north of the Niger/Nigeria border, Dogondoutchi is a majority Hausa town on the northern edge of the savanna zone, south of the Sahel. The area is dominated by small scale agriculture, mostly Millet farming, sedentary cattle raising, and seasonal grazing of longhorned cattle, mostly by nomadic Fula pastoralists and their semi-nomadic villages. The town itself is dominated by the large "Dogon Doutchi" Mesa, which looms over the eastern side of the town.

Dogondoutchi is best known as a cultural capital of the Arewa region, an area of rough topography that is the home of the Mawri subgroup of the Hausa people. The Mawri around Dogondoutchi are among the last Animist Hausa populations, and the region is a center for Niger's animist Hausa minority group. The town itself is majority Muslim, as is most of Niger and the Hausa ethnic group. Dogondoutchi is also a center for gatherings of the Bori spirit possession ritual, which has been extensively studies by Western Anthropologists. The nearby village of Lougou was the site of the 1899 Battle of Lougou between French forces and Sarraounia, a traditional religious leader based just outside modern Dogondoutchi.

Ismaël Lô (also Ismaël Lo) is a Senegalese musician. He was born in Dogondoutchi, Niger on 30 August 1956, to a Senegalese father and a Nigerien mother. Shortly after Lo's birth the family returned to Senegal where they settled in the town of Rufisque, near the capital Dakar. He also plays the guitar and the harmonica.

In the 1970s Lo studied at the School of Art in Dakar. He later joined the popular group Super Diamono, but left in 1984 to start a solo career. Over the next four years Lo recorded five popular solo albums.

In 1990 Lo signed a recording deal with Barclay and recorded in France his sixth solo album, Ismael Lo. Thanks to the success of the single "Tajabone" the album became a hit in the European charts. The album launched Lo’s international career.

Iso was recorded and released in 1994, and also became a success. The album contains soft guitar melodies and traditional Senegalese mbalax. The following year Lo toured in Africa. The compilation album Jammu Africa was released in 1996. The song "Without Blame" is a duet with Marianne Faithfull.