Burkina Faso |
People and Culture
People from Burkina Faso are called Bukinabé. The majority of Bukinabés belong to two major West African cultural groups - the Mande and the Voltaic. About 5,000 Europeans live in the country. The majority of the population live in either the south or the centre of the country. This results in a high population density so thousands of Bukinabés migrate each year to Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire for seasonal agricultural work.
The country suffers from high infant mortality and low life expectancy due to poor living conditions and limited access to healthcare making the average life expectancy for a Bukinabé just under 50 years.
Arts and crafts
Burkina Faso is home to one of the most important handicraft fairs in Africa - Le Salon International de L Artisanat de Ouagadougou (International Art and Craft Fair) - which is held in the country's capital city. The tenth meeting of the fair will be held from 27th October to 5th November 2006 with more than 10 African countries expected to take part. During the fair, many African art and craft products are displayed including:
- calabash art products
- jewellery
- bronze and iron crafts
- musical instruments
- furniture and home décor
- pottery and ceramics
- stone and wood sculptures
- crafts made from recycled materials
- textiles
Masks
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| Mask from Burkina Faso: Barry Perks |
Masks play an important role in the culture of Burkina Faso, often used in rituals to the gods and animal spirits. These rituals usually take place around villages to show the gods and animal spirits that the villagers are wanting to be blessed by them.
Music
Considering that Burkina Faso has over 60 ethnic groups, each with their own variety of folk music, it's not surprising that traditional music thrives in the country. In comparison to its neighbouring countries, however, Burkina Faso has not produced much popular music, so popular recordings are usually imported. One reason for this may be the country's poverty - there is very little money to invest in large-scale concerts, electric instruments and recording studios.
Film
“Broken Dreams”: Film director Idrissa Ouédraogo supports birth registration campaign in West and Central Africa
OUAGADOUGOU/DAKAR, 28 February 2007 - A new film promoting birth registration debuted in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso this week as part of FESPACO, the biennial African film festival. Produced and directed by celebrated Burkinabe director Idrissa Ouédraogo, the four-part series supports an ongoing birth registration campaign to boost Burkina Faso’s low birth registration numbers.
The films show eleven year-old Samira who dreams of being a doctor and twelve year old Salif who would like to be a club football player like Samuel E’to. Each knows the dream unlikely to come true because neither has a birth certificate.
In Burkina Faso, only 33 per cent of children were registered at birth, far from the goal of 75 per cent by 2009. "Children not registered at birth have no right to a nationality; they cannot therefore carry an identity card or a passport; they are denied health services; at school, they cannot sit for exams; they cannot be adopted; they are not protected against abuse or exploitation as regards work, recruitment into armed groups, or trafficking."
“A birth certificate is a passport for life.”
Glossary
Massif - a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits
Peneplain - an area reduced almost to a plain by erosion
High population density - a large number of people living in a relatively small area
Calabash - crafts made from gourds
Crafts from recycled materials; Barry Perks
A calabash bowl; Barry Perks
FESPACO , Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou, is celebrating it’s 20th edition in 2007. The festival started in 1969 and takes place every two years. It is the largest and most important film festival in Africa , screening 218 films during the week of February 24 through March 3, 2007 . See: www.fespaco.bf
