Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
In April when I was shopping with my wife at CB2, a furniture store in Manhattan, I started a conversation with the CB2 doorman who was from Burkina Faso and has been living in New York for a while. He came to the States for only one simple reason: to make some money here. When we talked about music, I asked him, whether he knows the NY/Burkina Faso band BURKINA ELECTRIC which he didn’t know. Then we talked about his country and it’s name. He told me that it got its deep name from Thomas Sankara in 1984 who was the president of that time. Burkina Faso stands for “the land of upright people” made out by the two major native languages Mòoré and Dioula, Figuratively, Burkina could be translated to “men of integrity” from the Mòoré language, and Faso means “fatherland” in Dioula. This doorman was surprised that I didn’t know anything about his hero and inspiration Thomas Sankara. I promised him that I would do some research and write about him in DooBeeDoo.
Before I say anything about Sankara I would like to say, how I think about the continent Africa and the African countries. First of all I love Africa, its people and of course its music. I have played with a lot of African musicians from Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, South Africa, Morocco, etc… As you know I love Salif Keita from Mali whom I owe a lot as a musician. Playing with my African music colleagues taught me that there’s no way from my side to superimpose my way of thinking on them. But, if I’m their leader and they respect and trust me, they would listen to me. Good examples of respected leaders in the African music world are musicians such as Salif Keita, Yousou N’Dour, Doudou N’Diaye Rose, Fela Kuti, Baaba Maal, etc.They don’t play only music but represent their people and get involved with them as well. You could call them music activists. When they make money, part of it goes to their community or village. Some of them get involved into politics and try to become a senator or even the president of their country. Fela Kuti and Yousou N’Dour are very good examples.
Although I love Africans, I’m very critical about their handling of their own African affairs. I don’t like to see how many African countries get financial support from Chinese companies these days. Becoming a Chinese colony?! Dealing with the Chines government and Chinese companies means simply selling out, losing its resources and becoming a victim of Chinese imperialism. Africans in general can’t say anymore “we can’t do this or that without the help from outside.” On the contrary in every African country there are a couple of (young) people – patriots – who have the sense of individual empowerment and the know-how to improve their own and their peoples’ lives. Political leaders like Nelson Mandela, Biko and Thomas Sankara, religious leaders like Desmond Tutu have shown and proved them that Africa can speak for itself and could be a voice in the international community. Especially in the international music scene African music is respected and loved, especially by their ex colonists?!
Who are the next potential African leaders? I strongly believe they’re members of the present African youth. Very few people have heard about the efforts being made by youth in Africa today. Just listen to African hip hop music which will tell you that Africa’s youth know what’s happening in their countries. In every African country young people are challenged by series of contradictions and frustrations. But I believe they are the most down to earth generation who have ever lived on the continent. The know what they have and don’t have. They know that their lives could be better. And they know they are responsible for their own lives. Yes still you can hear stories in the news about corruption, systemic failures, starvation and cruelty, but I see through my involvement in music that a change has started especially among young people in Africa. They know that they have the tools, abilities and responsibility to take action at the most local of levels in society.
And one of them in the past was Thomas Sankara who’s called “Africa’s Che Guevara”. At the young age of 33 the young military captain seized power by a military coup. His main goals were eliminating corruption and get autonomy from the French colonists. He’s known for being the first African leader who developed a program for social and economic changes which made him popular among his country’s impoverished citizens. After four years in power he was overthrown and assassinated in a coup d’état led by the French-backed Blaise Compaoré on October 15, 1987 who became the next president and is still the president of Burkina Faso!!! His assassination proved that his countrymen were not ready for a real change. One’s own interests and greed were more important than social changes and political involvement.
Another thing I would like to add is that Africans don’t need to copy Western democracy because it’s a political system created by Europeans ad for Europeans. Even American democracy can’t work for them because of differences of mentalities. Instead Africans or African countries should work out a political system that fits them best. I’m not against, even if a nation chooses a male or female leader to manage his or her nation like a “father or mother” and not like a tyrant.
