Burkina Faso has always marched to its own drummer. The small West African nation has sometimes been overshadowed by its more populous northern neighbor Mali\, and was once the southeastern frontier of the sprawling medieval Malian Empire. This empire spanned 10 m odern nations and dozens of ethnic groups\, and was knit together by the M andé\; or Mandinka language and cultural complex&mdash\;a language o f kings\, scholars\, and epic poetry still spoken today. But &ldquo\;The L and of Upright Men&rdquo\; is a cultural powerhouse in its own right\, and few artists embody the creative\, independent spirit of Burkina Faso as B aba Commandant &\; the Mandingo Band\, a four-piece ensemble that reima gines ancient Mandé\; musical traditions for the 21st century.
\nThe group is led by the charismatic\, enigmatic singer Baba Commandant (aka\, Mamadou Sanou)\, an activist for traditional Mandinka music who beg an his career as a dancer with the Koule Dafourou troupe\, before making h is mark as a singer&mdash\;or shouter&mdash\;with various local bands. Bab a originally hails from Burkina Faso&rsquo\;s second city\, Bobo-Dioulasso &mdash\;a bustling railway town with deep Mandinka roots. There he grew up immersed in Mandé\; traditions\, and attended initiation rites for the Donso hunter society\, from whom Baba learned his signature instrument \, the donso n&rsquo\;goni.
\nA traditional\, six-stringed harp with a gourd resonator\, the donso n&rsquo\;goni conjures up earthy tones that create hypnotic\, trance-like patterns. The instrument&rsquo\;s name tran slates as &ldquo\;hunter&rsquo\;s harp&rdquo\; and originated among the Se nufo hunters of Burkina Faso\, one of the regional Donso hunter societies of Mandinka culture. These semi-secret fraternities are spread across the historic Wassoulou region of Mali\, Guinea\, Cote d&rsquo\;Ivoire\, and Bu rkina Faso\, and its members are highly respected as traditional healers\, mystics\, seers\, and storytellers. The Donso accompany their storytellin g and songs with the n&rsquo\;goni\, preserving genealogies\, proverbs\, e soterica\, and generational knowledge.
\nToday Baba Commandant &\ ; the Mandingo Band make their home in the capital\, Ouagadougou\, and are a fixture on the city&rsquo\;s burgeoning music scene. Their debut album\ , Juguya\, caused a stir in 2015&mdash\;winning critical acclaim for its u nique fusion of traditional Burkinabé\; instruments\; propulsive\, A frobeat-inspired horns\; and raw guitar power that created an unstoppable groove. Their sound is anchored by Baba&rsquo\;s donso n&rsquo\;goni and g ravelly vocals\, as well as by the electric guitar heroics of Issouf Diaba te\, and a battery of traditional and modern percussion\, including the ba lafon (the West African predecessor of the xylophone)\, which adds a piqua nt\, rhythmic punch to so much Mandinka traditional and pop music.
\nBaba Commandant draws on his intimate knowledge of Donso traditions whene ver he takes up his n&rsquo\;goni\; alternately growling\, whispering\, an d chanting his way through the group&rsquo\;s repertoire. Their sound has evolved over time\, jettisoning the horns in favor of a tighter focus on t he interplay between Diabate&rsquo\;s sparkling guitar and the n&rsquo\;go ni&rsquo\;s gutbucket funk. The result is a leaner\, meaner\, four-piece t ouring outfit who are bringing their road-tested sound to North America fo r the first time in 2023.
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