(Afrobeat / Burkina Faso)
Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band hail from the city of Bobo-Diulasso in Burkina Faso. Rooted in the Manding musical traditions of their ancestral legacy, the group is led by vocalist Mamadou Sanou, a.k.a. Baba Commandant, an activist for traditional Manding music. Baba continues to redefine the boundaries between traditional and modern, and his roots music and Afrobeat style are inspired by the golden era of Nigerian music (Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé are big influences). He also plays the donso ngoni, a traditional West African guitar and an instrument associated with the Donso, traditional hunters in this region of Burkina Faso and Mali. “Sanou’s delivery is incantatory, and the grit in his growl gives the music an earthy quality” (magnetmagazine.com). Sponsored by IU African Studies Program
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