Customer Reviews

Fasco Denou

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One enduring dream of mine is to see these musicians live one day. The members of this group function as both performers and instructors/apprentices, so the cast is regularly changing. And listen to the sounds they produce! While percussion is strongest, the rhythms support beautiful melodic lines that thread throughout: voice, brass, flute. Dounounia and Faso Denou are trancelike, meditative; Ouradara Sidiki is call and response, not a bad selection on the entire album. I have all the music of theirs I can find, never tire of it. If the musicians are experiencing a fraction of the joy I feel listening to them, they must have the best job on earth! Just listen to Kara Mogo Mousso. You'll be sold as well!

these artists are more properly considered a school than a recording act, as they have been in existence for many decades in the landlocked West African nation of Burkina Faso. they occupy a status not unlike the Royal Drummers of Burundi, although this recording (unlike the Royal Drummers' CD) also includes vocals and other instrumentation. the Burundi drummers are an astonishing sight in concert, perhaps less compelling when you can't watch them. Farafina are a different story. While this recording lacks the polish of, say, Senegal's youssou N'dour or Benin's Angelique Kidjo, having played it among my limited circle of friends (don't ask), I found it to have broader appeal than this description might suggest.