Ouobraogo Charles

This tape from Burkina Faso has been a minor revelation for me this week. On a scale of dull to wild I’d give it a “bananas++”. Fast, energetic, fascinating harmonies, often hard-to-track rhythmic patterns. The kinds of things that make a guy’s heart go pitter-pat on this sunny afternoon in Copenhagen.

Early August tour starts tomorrow. Holler at me if you’re around:

05.08 DK Sejerø Festival
07.08 PL Katowice Off Festival
08.08 UK London Cafe Oto
11.08 CH Geneva Ecoutes au Vert
12.08 NL Venlo Zomerparkfeest
13.08 DE Hamburg MS Dockville

Face A
Zâmsdo
Widga

Face B
Yel Doûûssa
Pag La Rao Yingre

13 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

bertsreply
August 4, 2011 at 5:00 pm

boooo why aren’t you playing in berlin? just three hours east

Jonathan Dueckreply
August 6, 2011 at 6:24 pm

This tape is so great! Thanks! A friend of mine from Burkina has this to say about Charles:

“Charles is my friend, but he is dead 3 years ago. The last time we met, we talked about african culture. Charle wanted to preserve african wisdom ,proverbs in his songs for children.He is also singing for orphans care. I am happy you like his songs”

Brian Shimkovitzreply
August 7, 2011 at 8:26 am

@berts, I will be back in Berlin soon enough, no worries!

@Jonathan, I knew you’d know something about this!

Anonymousreply
August 8, 2011 at 2:47 pm

I spent part of my childhood in Bobo Dioulasso Haute Volta(now Burkina Faso) and Charles reminds me of these lazy sunny days of the 1960’s…

Antoine from France.

Anonymousreply
August 8, 2011 at 9:56 pm

Brian,

the “hard-to-track rhythmic patterns” come pretty straight from the traditional music of the Mossi, the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, counting more than 40% of the population.

Unfortunately, it’ s very hard to find some information about the traditional music; you might find a few albums from the 70th, from labels like Club Voltaïque du Disque…
A-

katreply
August 9, 2011 at 3:55 pm

yes, please come to berlin!

Anonymousreply
August 11, 2011 at 6:52 am

what a great cover! lawn chair grace for sure

RobbMaccreply
August 30, 2011 at 9:31 pm

Anyone else having trouble downloading this? sorry to hassle..

Davidreply
September 4, 2011 at 6:04 pm

I don’t enjoy this tape as much as some, but the line “On a scale from dull to wild this is bananas++” jumps to the top of my list of quotable quotes!

Marko Grubacreply
September 8, 2011 at 12:13 pm

hi. I am new on this blog and somehow still can not find any passwords for packed files. any help?

Brian Shimkovitzreply
September 12, 2011 at 8:17 pm

hi marko, no passwords, they should unzip ok….let me know if you have a problem.

Notice Recordingsreply
February 2, 2012 at 12:57 am

Hey any chance this could be re-uped ? Based on your description, I am really excited for this !

Thanks !

Brian Shimkovitzreply
February 15, 2012 at 1:23 am

hey! just click on the individual songs, the zshare link is donesky. thanks!

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