Burkinabe Traditional

Burkina Faso · 1800s

Dancing Happy Sentimental Epic Chill

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Description

Burkinabe traditional is the umbrella for the diverse indigenous music of Burkina Faso’s many peoples, especially the Mossi, Fulani (Peul), Bissa, Gourounsi, Lobi, and Jula/Mandé communities.

It is characterized by interlocking balafon patterns, powerful drum ensembles (bendré, djembe, and dunun), call‑and‑response vocals, praise poetry from the griot tradition, and lively dance rhythms such as warba.

Melodies often use pentatonic or hexatonic scales, and textures are typically heterophonic or unison with ornamental variation. Performances accompany life‑cycle events, court ceremonies, harvests, and communal festivities, keeping oral history and social values alive.

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Influenced by

Mande Music

Mande music is the courtly and communal music of the Mande peoples (including Mandinka, Maninka/Malinke, and Bambara) whose heartland lies in present‑day Mali and extends across Guinea, Senegal, The Gambia, and Côte d’Ivoire. It centers on the hereditary jeli (griot) tradition of professional praise‑singers and instrumentalists who preserve genealogies, epics, and social histories. Its core sound is built around cyclical ostinati (kumbengo) on instruments such as the 21‑string kora (harp‑lute), the balafon (gourd‑resonated xylophone), and the ngoni (lute), with improvisatory filigree (birimintingo) weaving above. Vocals alternate between composed refrains and free, declamatory passages (donkilo and sataro), often in call‑and‑response with a small chorus. Rhythms commonly breathe in 12/8 and 6/8 feels with subtle cross‑rhythms, while modal tunings (e.g., sauta, tomora) and timbral “buzz” aesthetics (from balafon resonators) shape a distinctive, shimmering texture. Repertoires comprise named pieces tied to lineages and events (e.g., Sunjata epics, Duga, Kaira, Jarabi). In modern contexts, these materials underpin both acoustic ensembles and electrified bands, maintaining the social function of praise and mediation while speaking to contemporary audiences.

Griot

Griot (also called jeli/jali) is the hereditary West African tradition of poet-singers, historians, and musicians whose craft combines storytelling, praise-singing, genealogy, diplomacy, and music. It is centered in the Mande world of today’s Mali, Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea, and is best known for virtuosic performances on the kora (21‑string harp-lute), balafon (xylophone), and ngoni (lute), alongside powerful, ornamented vocals. Griot music is structured around cyclical ostinatos with improvisatory flourishes, call-and-response, and text that preserves communal memory—epics, lineages, and moral instruction—delivered in languages such as Mandinka and Bambara. While deeply traditional, the griot aesthetic has adapted to modern stages and studios, influencing global “world music,” West African pop, and blues-derived styles.

Fula Music

Fula music (also called Pulaar/Fulfulde/Peul music) refers to the traditional and popular music of the Fulani (Fulɓe) people, a trans‑Sahelian community spread from Senegal and Guinea through Mali and Niger to Nigeria and Cameroon. It is characterized by nimble, cyclical lute ostinatos (on the hoddu/xalam), expressive single‑string fiddle lines (nyanyeru/goje), breathy overblown flute melodies (the three‑hole tambin or "Fula flute"), handclaps and calabash percussion, and highly ornamented vocals. Melodies often use pentatonic or modal scalar frameworks with melisma and subtle pitch inflections influenced by Islamic recitation. Lyrics in Pulaar/Fulfulde celebrate pastoral life, lineage and praise, moral counsel, love, migration, and community events such as cattle festivals and weddings.

Mossi Music

Mossi music refers to the traditional and court-derived musical practices of the Mossi (Mooré-speaking) people of present-day Burkina Faso. It is characterized by energetic dance rhythms (notably the warba dance), call-and-response singing, and a strong emphasis on percussion led by the bendré (a large calabash/gourd drum) alongside balafon (wooden xylophone), rattles, handclaps, and end-blown flutes. Melodies are often pentatonic and delivered in the Mooré language by praise-singers who recount lineages, extol chiefs (Naaba), and transmit proverbs and social commentary. While rooted in royal and ceremonial contexts, Mossi music also lives in community celebrations and rites of passage, and it underpins many modern Burkinabé “tradimoderne” styles that blend traditional rhythms with guitars, keyboards, and contemporary production.

Djembe

Djembe refers to the West African drum-centered music tradition built around the goblet-shaped djembe and its bass-drum family (dununba, sangban, and kenkeni). It is a polyrhythmic, participatory style that accompanies dance, rites of passage, agricultural cycles, and communal celebrations among Mandé peoples. Characteristic playing features are three core tones on the djembe—bass, open tone, and slap—combined into interlocking patterns that create a dense, swinging groove in either 12/8 (ternary) or 4/4 (binary) feels. A lead drummer (djembefola) uses breaks, calls, and improvisations to cue dancers and ensemble changes, while bell patterns on the dunun stabilize the timeline. The result is physically propulsive, call‑and‑response music that is at once communal, ceremonial, and highly virtuosic.

West African Music

West African music is a broad regional tradition centered on cyclical grooves, polyrhythms, and call-and-response, carried by griot (jeli) storytellers and community ensembles. Its core sound is driven by interlocking percussion patterns—often in 12/8 or 4/4—anchored by bell timelines and hand drums, over which praise-singing, chant, and melodic ostinatos unfold. Typical instruments include the kora (21‑string harp-lute), balafon (wooden xylophone), ngoni/xalam (lute), bolon (bass harp), talking drum, djembe and dunun, sabar, and shekere. Melodies tend to be modal and pentatonic, relying on repetition, variation, and improvisation. Islamic recitation and Sahelian court traditions contribute melismatic vocal styles and poetic structures, while coastal guitar idioms (palm‑wine, dance bands) shaped modern urban genres. From Mande jeliya to Wolof sabar and Yoruba bata/talking-drum ensembles, West African music is both ceremonial and social—used for praise, weddings, initiations, communal work, and dance. Its rhythmic logic, timbral layering, and participatory performance practice profoundly shaped global popular music.

Wassoulou

Wassoulou is a contemporary popular music style from southern Mali and the wider Wasulu cultural area (spanning parts of Mali, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire). It blends village-based hunters’ music with modern, urban arrangements, centering the distinctive sonorities of the donso ngoni and its lighter cousin, the kamalen ngoni, alongside calabash percussion and handclaps. The style is often led by powerful female vocalists singing in Bambara (Bamana) and related Mande languages, using call-and-response choruses, pentatonic melodies, and buoyant 6/8-to-4/4 cross-rhythms. Lyrics frequently address women’s perspectives—love, independence, social responsibility, marriage, and work—delivered with an earthy timbre and declamatory intensity that make Wassoulou both danceable and socially resonant.

Has influenced

Afrobeat

Afrobeat is a horn-driven, polyrhythmic, and politically charged style that emerged in Nigeria, spearheaded by bandleader Fela Kuti and drummer Tony Allen. It fuses West African highlife and juju with American funk, jazz, and soul to create extended, hypnotic grooves. Typical tracks revolve around interlocking guitar and keyboard ostinatos, elastic bass vamps, dense percussion (shekere, congas, agogô, cowbell), and tightly arranged horn riffs that punctuate the beat. Vocals often use call-and-response and socially conscious lyrics, delivered in English, Nigerian Pidgin, or Yoruba. Harmonically sparse but rhythmically intricate, Afrobeat prioritizes feel: long, evolving arrangements, richly syncopated drum patterns, and sectional dynamics that spotlight solos and collective interplay.

Afro-Funk

Afro-funk is a groove-driven fusion that marries the syncopated punch of American funk with West African rhythmic traditions such as highlife and jùjú. It features tightly interlocking rhythm sections, ostinato bass lines, bright horn riffs, call-and-response vocals, and guitar textures that often use wah-wah, palm-muted chanks, and cyclical vamps. While rooted in dance-floor energy, afro-funk retains a strong sense of locality—languages, proverbs, and social themes are woven into songs—making it both a party music and a vehicle for cultural expression. The sound flourished in the 1970s across West Africa, especially Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin, with some bands based in diasporic hubs like London, creating a pan-African, cosmopolitan take on funk.

Afropop

Afropop is a modern, pan‑African pop style that blends West and Central African rhythmic traditions with global pop, R&B, hip hop, dancehall, and electronic production. It favors catchy toplines, call‑and‑response hooks, bright guitar licks inspired by highlife and soukous, and mid‑tempo grooves designed for dancing. Songs are often multilingual, moving fluidly between English or French and local languages or pidgins, while lyrics center on romance, joy, aspiration, and celebration. Production commonly uses syncopated percussion, warm sub‑bass, plucky synths or marimbas, and clean, melodic vocals (often with tasteful Auto‑Tune), resulting in an upbeat, accessible sound with unmistakably African groove and feel.

Worldbeat

Worldbeat is a pop-oriented fusion that blends contemporary Western production (pop, rock, dance, and electronic) with rhythms, instruments, scales, and vocal styles drawn from diverse musical traditions around the world. It typically features layered percussion, polyrhythms, call-and-response vocals, and multilingual or code-switching lyrics, while maintaining accessible song forms and hook-driven choruses. Arrangements often juxtapose drum kits, bass guitar, and synths with instruments such as kora, mbira, oud, sitar, djembe, balafon, or charango. As a retail and radio category in the 1980s–1990s, worldbeat served both as a creative space for cross-cultural collaboration and a marketing umbrella, attracting praise for bridge-building and criticism for occasional exoticism or unequal credit-sharing.

Desert Blues

Desert blues is a Saharan/Sahelian guitar tradition that blends West African modal and pentatonic song forms with the timbre and cyclical riffing of electric blues and rock. Characterized by hypnotic ostinatos, handclaps or calabash percussion, and call-and-response vocals, it creates a trance-like propulsion often compared to a camel’s gait across the dunes. The style commonly features pentatonic and Dorian-leaning melodies, droning bass strings, and interlocking guitar parts bathed in warm overdrive and roomy reverb. Lyrics, frequently sung in Tamasheq, Songhai, or Bambara, speak poetically about exile (assouf), nomadism, resistance, and the harsh beauty of desert life.

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