We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Toubabou Has Gone

from Freedom From The Known by Afrikän Protoköl

/

about

Toubabou means "the white man" in Djoula. The Toubabous come and go as they please in Burkina Faso. At the Burkina Embassy in Brussels you can get a Burkinabè visa the same day in just a couple of hours. Unlike Burkinabè who have to get up very early to get a visa for Europe. The formalities are interminable and seem designed to deter applications. Visas for performers are only granted subject to many guarantees and conditions in a general climate of misplaced suspicion. No doubt some don't return once they have their visa but they are a tiny minority. Perhaps if it was easier to leave it might also be easier to go back. Then again, can you really blame anyone who chooses not to return? Differences and journeys fuel musicians’ inspiration. I can also understand when someone's application has been turned down if they then try "Plan B" for the European El Dorado, sometimes even at the cost of their lives when they wash up on a Spanish or Italian shore. Many are also fleeing family or religious pressures, the lack of horizons and prospects, oppressive government restrictions, the lack of infrastructures or the misery in which 95% of the Burkinabè population is kept. This piece also speaks of the hardships of exile and separation from loved ones and is based on a five-beat rhythm, unusual for Africa.

credits

from Freedom From The Known, released May 26, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Afrikän Protoköl image

Afrikän Protoköl Brussels, Belgium

Afrikän Protoköl is the Afro Groove band of Belgian saxophonist G.Van Parys. Jazzy riffs, groove & impro merge together into a warm and festive transcontinental fusion. Established in Burkina Faso in 2013, the band releases its 2d album in 2017. With a rhythmic section from Burkina & horns from Belgium, Afrikän Protoköl proposes a colourful & dynamic show; an original music with universal appeal. ... more

contact / help

Contact Afrikän Protoköl

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

If you like Afrikän Protoköl, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now