Burkina Electric

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Burkina Electric, based in Ouagadougou, is the first electronica band from Burkina Faso, in the deep interior of West Africa. Burkina Electric's music combines the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. This diverse and talented group consists of four musicians and two dancers who collectively participate in the creative process and represent disparate musical genres and regions across the globe.

Much electronic dance music, even in Africa, still seems to employ the same rock and funk rhythms that have been used in Western pop for the past 50 years. Burkina Electric seeks to enrich the fabric of this music by using unusual rhythms that are rarely heard and little-known even in much of Africa. This includes ancient rhythms of the Sahel, such as the Mossi peopleés Waraba and Ouennenga. The band invites you to discover that these rhythms groove at least as powerfully as disco, house, or drum'n'bass.

Burkina Electric creates a unique and refreshing musical world that is all their own by using sounds of traditional instruments and found sounds recorded in Burkina Faso. Their music is tryly African electronica, an exotic exploration and fusion of musical styles taht is experimental and entertaining. performances are often further enhanced by the use of live-manipulated video.

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Award-winning singer Maï Lingani, a star in Burkina Faso because of her unique voice and charismatic stage presence, sings in Moré, Dioula, Bissa, and French. Wende K. Blass, one of Burkina's premier guitarists, contributes soulful guitar melodies. Electronicist/VJ Pyrolator has been one of Germany's most inventive pop musicians and a top producer ever since the days of the "Neue Deutsche Welle" some 25 years as a founding member of bands D.A.F. and Der Plan, while New York-based drummer/electronicist Lukas Ligeti is one of the most up-and-coming concert music composers internationally and has received commissions from groups such as the Kronos Quartet and the Bang on a Can All Stars, and the American Composers Orchestra. Vicky and Zoko Zoko are skilles dancers/choreographers who bring high energy and sharp moves, and also contribute powerful vocals

Burkina Electric was developed for a tour in Austria in 2004. Prior to its formation, band members Maï Lingani, Wende K. Blass, Pyrolator, and Lukas Ligeti had become close friends as members of Beta Foly, a group that emerged from a workshop led by Lukas and Pyrolator in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, which, among other experiments, created some of the earliest fusions of techno/trip-hop with African traditional music. In May 2006, Burkina Electric performed at the Festival Jazz à Ouaga in Burkina Faso and released its debut album, Paspanga, in Burkina Faso. Two video clips, produced for Burkinabè TV, are now receiving heavy play in Burkina Faso and surrounding countries. In the fall of 2007, Burkina Electric released the double EP Rêem Tekré, featuring four Burkina Electric songs plus remixes by DJ Spooky, Paul de Jong (of The Books), Rupert Huber (of Tosca), Raz Mesinai (Badawi), and Stefan Schneider (Mapstation/To Rococo Rot). Also, Burkina Electric's song "Mdole" is featured on the compilation Beyond The Horizon, assembled by BBC Radio DJ Charlie Gillett, released in July 2008 by Warner Classics & Jazz.

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In recent years, Burkina Electric has performed all across the U.S. at venues such as the CitySol festival and Joe's Pub in New York City; the Old Town School of Music in Chicago; the University of South Carolina; Rensselaer Polytechnic in Troy, NY; the Arab-American National Museum in Detroit, MI; and the Erie Art Museum in PA. In 2009, they performed again in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge, live on WNYC radio’s Soundcheck program, and also at The Point, on a concert produced by the American Composers Orchestra. With choreographer Karole Armitage and her dance company, Armitage Gone! Dance, Burkina Electric created the work "Summer of Love", which was first performed in August 2008 at Lincoln Center in New York and was most recently staged at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Italy.

Burkina Electric's first album Paspanga is available at Cantaloupe Music.

http://www.burkina-electric.com/

www.myspace.com/burkinaelectric

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