A TOUBABOU IN BANZON !
It was at an ethno-musical workshop that I met Adama, from Burkina
Faso.
He invited me to his country to experience the life, culture
and music. So I
packed my bags and flew off to his homeland. We landed
in Ouagadougou,
the capitale, took a bus to Bobo-Dioulasso, and from
there rode a motorbike
on the very hazardous path leading to Banzon,
Adama’s village.
ANDREW FLÜCKIGER, MEMBER OF THE
UNITED NATIONS MUSIC CLUB QUINTET.
HE PLAYS THE DRUMS.
Banzon, is mostly known for its vast rice fields, farmers also grow an important variety of fruit, vegetables and cereals. The farmers are very hardworking and yet take out time for each other. The family is the main focus of their social lives.
One day as I was visiting a field a farmer offered me a huge bunch of bananas, which is typical of the kind attitude of the local people. I appreciated the gentle pace of life. In Burkina there is a dictum which says : “In Europe you have watches, but here we have time”.
In the village, there is no electricity or running water and the houses are made of mud bricks. The place is full of life, starting with cockerel calls in the early morning, music and animated discussion during the day, and foraging animals at night, punctuated at any time by the guttural call of the hippopotamus.
The main focus of the trip was the music and more specifically to learn the balafon. There is a large diversity in the balafon family, depending on which culture it has originated from. One finds different models, each one with its own particularities.
The one I’ve been learning comes from the senoufo culture. It’s tuned to a pentatonic scale, which most of the traditional West African music is based on. Each tune has a story or a message behind it. “Mousso Gwe” tells of the admiration of white women. “La Morea” is a tune meaning that we should all get together and have a good time, for example when a foreign balafonist arrives in a new village, it is not for making competition or demonstration, but to share the knowledge and enjoy the music with evereryone.
It was an unexpected pleasure to learn a new instrument called Ngoni which was taught to me by a young musician from the village. He had a great quality of patience and took his time to instruct me.
The sound of the ngoni is very peaceful and reminiscent of the harp. All the instruments are handmade which results in each one having a unique sound. Music is a fundamental part of the Burkinabes lives. And as Adama is a Griot, it is part of his duty to ensure the transmission of knowledge through music.
More than just a holiday, this journey was a lesson of life, humility and sharing through the universal language of music which transcends race, color, gender and brings people together.
