- country:Burkina Faso
- region:West Africa
- style(s):Traditional, Acoustic
- label:Empreinte, Intuition, Watermelon
- type:Band, Composer/Songwriter
- gender:male, female
- instrumentation:instrumental, vocal, percussion
- artist posted by:Compagnie Farafina
Line up
- Boakary DEMBELE (Balafon, Bara, Vocal)
- Fatoumata DEMBELE (Lead vocal, Dance)
- Lamoussa SANOU (Dum'Dum, Djembe, Bara, Vocal)
- Moussa KOITA (Balaphon, Djembe, Dum'Dum, Tamani, Gôni, Louga)
- Moussa SANOU (Kora)
- Ouattara SANOU SALIF (Djembe, Balafon, Bara)
- Seydoux DEMBELE (Balafon )
- Souleymane SANOU aka Mani (N'goni, Dum'Dum, Korabass, Dance, Vocals )
- Soungalo COULIBALY (Peul flute, Composer-Songwriter)
Links
In 2014, the legendary African group FARAFINA returns to world stages to set off its rhythmic fireworks and pull you into its irresistible dances. FARAFINA is now working with a new management and booking team.
Hailing from Burkina-Faso, FARAFINA brings together three generations of songwriters-performers in a core of eight musicians. For 35 years, FARAFINA has developed its music on traditional instruments. Chants, dances, and choruses draw inspiration from deep down in the musical tradition of West Africa, in the sound and poetic heritage of the Bobo, Dyula, Mandinka, Mossi, Fula, and Senufo peoples. FARAFINA's compositions speak bluntly of today's world, of the mutations of globalized African society, and of transmission between generations. FARAFINA's repertoire takes inspiration from jazz, showcasing solos. Its roots in African tradition combined with its openness have led to collaborations with musicians as diverse as Jon Hassell, the Rolling Stones, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Daniel Lanois, Billy Cobham, and many others. Their history is rich with concerts given around the world, from Montreux Jazz to Lincoln Center in New York, from Vancouver to Japan, from the stages of WOMAD festivals to that of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Their 2013 concerts provoked contagious enthusiasm in their audiences, and it is a great pleasure for us to give you the opportunity to share the FARAFINA experience with your audiences.
Right from the beginning FARAFINA's musicians were enthusiastically welcomed by their audiences who were fascinated by so much virtuosity. Their music interweaves complex and forceful rhythms and is carried by the melodic lines of balafons, flute and koras. The songs are played on traditional instruments while their lyrics deal with present issues of African realities in a critical though hopeful way. During their odyssey of 35 years the group naturally faced some changes. New and younger musicians have joined the group. All came in through the so called "Farafina School" which continues the African tradition of having the children, from their youngest ages on, attend the concerts of their elders and trying to repeat the music they hear all day long. In this way an astonishing and remarkable musical continuity is guaranteed. FARAFINA creates a subtle music that is sensitive and ardent at the same time. It draws your body and mind into discovering not only the African life but a universal life nourished with rhythms leading all the way to the roots of jazz. Reinvented by encounters with modernity, Manding influences, the music of Burkina Faso's neighboring countries, the melodies of the people of Mali, Niger and the legends of Kong and the chants and drums of Ghana and Benin, all contribute to the richness of FARAFINA's s work.