Georges Ouedraogo, le Gandaogo National

African funk doesn't generally interest me, just as I rarely get excited about Scandinavian Salsa, South American Jump Blues, or North American Afrobeat. There is, however, always an exception. For me, that exception is Georges Ouedraogo, my candidate for West Africa's funkiest man. His genius, I feel, is most evident in his ballads: much less in his 1970's Afro-funk explorations. To my ears, he is the West African singer to have most thoroughly integrated and appropriated the deep soul of the American South. Like some of the great Ethiopian singers of the 1970s and 1980s, Ouedraogo drew inspiration from the oeuvres of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Sam Cooke to express his experience and reality, his unique vision. He did so in deeply poetic Mooré lyrics, the language of his rural upbringing.

Georges Ouedraogo was born in 1947, in the village of Gogo, in the rural department of Komsilga, 50km south of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta).  In his early teens, his mother sent him to Ouagadougou to apprentice in an uncle's workshop. Uninspired by carpentry, Georges spent as much time as he could listening to live music and soon joined his first group, Antonio et ses Tcha Tcha Boys. In 1965, he moved to Bobo-Dioulasso, at the time the Upper Volta's economic capital and home to the Volta Jazz, one of the country's most popular orchestras. Georges was hired to play percussion for the group and recorded his first composition with them. Four years later, he moved to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, where he learned to play trap drums performing with several different groups. In 1973, Ivoirian bandleader Jimmy Hyacinthe invited Georges to start a band with him and keyboard player Rato Venance. They moved to Germany and started Bozambo, a group that created an Afro-funk style drawing heavily on the Warba rhythms of the Mossi, Burkina's largest ethnic group.

In 1976, Bozambo released their first lp and performed throughout France and West Germany. The next year, Georges recorded a set of his compositions that would be released as three 45s under his name. Despite Bozambo's success, the group didn't last long and Georges Ouedraogo returned to Ouagadougou, in 1978. He was welcomed as a hero, as the first Burkinabé artist to have succeeded abroad, performing Mooré songs for European audiences. Soon after his return to Ouagadougou a journalist gave Georges the title that he would hold for the rest of his career. He was declared 'le Gandaogo National'; gandaogo is a Mooré honorific that can be translated as 'the one who dared'. That same year he released 'Gnanfou-Gnanfou', his first LP. He would release three more LPs.

By the early 1990s, Georges had fallen on hard times, having to sell his moped to pay for the bus fare to Cote d'Ivoire for Jimmy Hyacinthe's funeral. He didn't release any music for nearly a decade and rarely performed. He made a comeback in 2000, with the release of Gnou Zemes, his first cassette. He would release two more cassettes, one of new compositions (Rosalie, 2003) and one of reinterpretations of his hits (Tingré, 2008). In January 2012, Georges Ouedraogo gave a triumphant performance at the French Institute of Ouagadougou, part of a concert organized to accompany the publication of Florent Mazzoleni's book on the pioneers of the modern music of Upper Volta. I was lucky to be in the audience that night. Ouedraogo gave an emotional performance and got the largest applause of the night. This was his final performance. He died twelve days later, in the early morning of February 2, 2012.

Mounafica is one of Georges Ouedraogo's biggest hits and one of his best slow burners.

Gossip! Gossip! Leave me alone. I have had it.

If something happens to me it will be because of that gossip

At first she criticized me saying I was the son of a peasant 

and that I should return to the village to farm.

By the time she understood that a peasant's son isn't lazy

Ouedraogo's son was long gone.

You Gossip! Leave me alone. I have had it.

If something happens to me it will be because of the gossip

She will tell you all about it.

She is always nagging me, why do you have scars on your cheeks?

Why don't I look like everyone else?

When she realized that my scars shine like gold,

When she realized that my scars are the legacy of my ancestors,

By the time she understood that the son of a farmer isn't lazy,

By the time she understood that you reap what you sow.

[Many Mossi have distinctive ritual scars on their cheeks.]

Pougbeogo is a good example of Georges Ouedraogo's take on the Warba, the iconic dance rhythm of the Mossi.

My suffering, I don't understand it! Only God can understand!

I am going to return to my father's house tomorrow.

This morning I woke up early, full of enthusiasm,

I heated and drew the water for his bath.

He washed himself and asked for his breakfast,

I prepared his porridge and brought it to him.

He beat me mercilessly, he threw me to the ground and stepped all over me,

He doesn't think I take care for him like I should.

My suffering, I don't understand it! Only God can understand!

I am going to return to my father's house tomorrow.

What can I do?

 I work, grinding until the sun sets.

 I carry wood on my back, hurrying home before nightfall.

 I prepare his To the way he likes it. 

He beat me mercilessly, he threw me to the ground and stepped all over me,

He is never satisfied with what I do for him.

My suffering, I don't understand it! Only God can understand!

I am going to return to my father's house tomorrow.

What can I do?

This selection features Georges Ouedraogo's most passionate ballads. These songs warrant relaxed listening, their pleasures are narcotic. Georges Ouedraogo's distinctive scream is one of the most expressive vocalizations I know, it is straight from the heart. The collection also includes five of his better Warbas.  

Download Selected Hits

If you would like to listen to the rest of Georges Ouedraogo's catalog, including his most celebrated Afro-funk recordings, there is a lovely 3 volume anthology available on most download platforms. It is called 'Les 50 Plus Belles Chansons de Georges Ouedraogo'. These same platforms also have the the first Bazombo release. 

The translations are by Bassirou Kagone, who used to drive me around Ouagadougou in his old Mercedes, cranking Mounafica. Many thanks to him for the translations and the good times. 

Enjoy!