BURKINA-FASO Haute Volta – Ocora – SOR 10

BURKINA-FASO
Haute Volta – Ocora – SOR 10, recordings and photographs by Charles Duvelle, published 1962 (10 inch, 33 RPM)

This precious 10-inch LP published in 1962, shortly after the country’s independence, captures a glimpse of the authentic sounds of Burkina Faso’s beautiful Mossi, Bissa, Peul, Gan and Lobi traditional cultures, including a royal drum ensemble, a balafon, an elong xylophone, a kankarma musical arc, reed-like instruments made with millet stalks (boumpa, bopal), a lontoré flute, a kondé lute, a koné sanza, and singing.

Ce précieux album 25 cm publié en 1962 peu après l'indépendance du pays, nous offre un aperçu des sonorités authentiques issues des magnifiques cultures traditionnelles Mossi, Bissa, Peul, Gan et Lobi du Burkina Faso, avec notamment un ensemble royal de tambours, un balafon, un xylophone elong, des arcs musicaux kankarma, des instruments fabriqués avec des tiges de mil (boumpa, bopal), une flûte lontoré, un luth kondé, une sanza koné, et du chant. 

 

A1 – Orchestra of the Naba (King) of Tenkodogo with 12 drums, directed by Bènd Naba, with Tala Kéré praising the lineage of the nabas of Tenkodogo. Mossi 

 

A2 – Bènd Naba “talks” with his drum, with narration by Bila Balima, Tenkodogo. Mossi 

 

A3 – Ali Koné plays a 12-blade Bambara gourd-resonated balafon, accompanied by Amadou Zouré on drum and cowbells. Mossi

 

A4 – Pouza Lengani plays a musical arc accompanied by Tasséré Zouré on the boumpa wind instrument made with a millet stalk and small resonating gourds on each of the instrument’s extremities, village of Garango. Bissa

 

A5 – Sibiri Bambara plays lontoré flute. Bissa

 

A6 – Moussa Sondé plays a bopal split millet stalk. Peul

 

B1 – Diotouré Hien sings a love song and plays the kankarma musical arc, village of Loropéni. Gan

 

B2 – Sihiré Palé sings and plays the elong xylophone, near the city of Gaoua. Lobi

 

B3 – Lalé Yougo plays the kondé lute, village of Yarkatenga. Bissa

 

B4 – Singers Yambaki, Gendoré and Lako praise the chief of the village of Yarkatenga. Bissa

 

B5 – Kassoum Nombré and Souleymane Zéba play the koné sanza, city of Garango. Bissa

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Ethnomusicologist Charles Duvelle (1937-2017) was a formidable champion of traditional music who greatly contributed to the preservation of a disappearing world in our age of globalization, when the rich diversity of our past is quickly being erased and forgotten.

 

Raised in Indochina, Duvelle was an accomplished classical pianist with a great ear who reveled in new forms of music, like Jazz. He made his indelible mark as general editor of the French label Ocora, whose many remarkable recordings had a qualitative impact that’s impossible to overstate. Showcasing the complexity, diversity, and sometimes high level of abstraction of traditional music, such luminaries as David Byrne, Brian Eno and countless Jazz musicians have readily acknowledged the influence of these seminal LPs on their music and for opening new musical vistas.

Our other Burkina-Faso music posts:

Le Larlé-Naaba – Les Trésors du Mogho – Disques CVD 003 here

Les Trésors du Faso – Musique Traditionnelle Vol. 1 here
Compil du Salou Traditionnel Burkinabé Vol. 1 - KA 00134 here

El Hadji Hamado Kanazoe – Maitre Coranique Secteur 19 Vol. 1 here

El Hadji Hamado Kanazoe – Maitre Coranique Secteur 19 Vol. 6 here

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