Burkina Electric

BIO

Burkina Electric is a music group from Burkina Faso .

Burkina Electric is the first experimental electronic pop music group in the country. Based primarily in Ouagadougou, the group's objective is to bring new concepts to both Burkinabè music and Western club contemporary electronic dance culture by infusing computer based performance with rhythms sounds of traditional instruments and found sounds recorded in Burkina Faso.

Burkina Electric enriches the fabric of electronic dance 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 peoples' Ouaraba and Ouenega, but also new grooves of their own creation.

The band was formed in 2004 by award-winning vocalist Maï Lingani (who sings in Moré, Dioula, Bissa, and French), premier guitarist Wende K. Blass, electronicist/VJ Pyrolator (a founding member of D.A.F. and Der Plan), and USA-based drummer/electronicist/composer Lukas Ligeti, featuring dancers Vicky and Zoko Zoko, who also contribute backing vocals.

In 2007 Burkina Electric released the double EP Rêem Tekré on the Ata Tak label, featuring four of the group's songs and remixes by DJ Spooky, Paul de Jong (of The Books), Rupert Huber (of Tosca), Raz Mesinai (Badawi), and Stefan Schneider (of Mapstation/To Rococo Rot). In addition, the track Mdolé is featured on the compilation Beyond the Horizon, assembled by BBC Radio DJ Charlie Gillett, issued in 2008 by Phantom.

Their debut album 'Paspanga' was released in 2010 by New York label Cantaloupe Music. Different songs of the album were lisenced to compilations by Songlines Magazine (Top Of The World 85) and Conduit (Terrasonic Spinning The World 2002 - 2013).

Burkina Electric have toured internationally and played many important venues and festivals in Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Monaco, Burkina Faso, Canada, and across the US. Highlights include the Festival Jazz à Ouaga (Burkina Faso), Le Poisson Rouge in New York City (US), the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee (USA), the Newman Center in Denver (USA), the Cleveland Museum of Art (USA), the Detroit Institute of Arts (US), the Luminato Festival in Toronto (Canada), and the Montreal Jazz Festival (Canada).

With choreographer Karole Armitage and her company, Armitage Gone! Dance, Burkina Electric created the work Summer of Love, which was performed at Lincoln Center in New York City (USA) and at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania (Italy). The work was then developed into Itutu and was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival and at Celebrate Brooklyn! in Prospect Park, both in New York City (USA); at the Opéra de Monte Carlo (Monaco); and at festivals in Belgium and Germany.

In 2016, Lukas Ligeti composed Suite for Burkina Electric and Orchestra, piece that was presented at the Festival of Lights in Leipzig (Germany), in a collaborative performance of the band with the with the MDR Symphony Orchestra (Mitteldeutsches Rundfunk Symphonieorchester Leipzig) conducted by Kristjan Järvi.