Songs With a Purpose

Listening Post 338. There’s no progress without struggle, and maybe that’s one reason music developed—to make the hard work less onerous, even joyful. Kandy Guira’s first full-length album captures this spirit. Nagtaba (Together) is an ebullient, activist call for solidarity, understanding, tolerance, love, equality, building Africa’s future and valuing women as agents of change. The Paris-based singer-songwriter from Burkina Faso sparkles in her own universe, having paid her dues in the cabarets of Ougadougou, training with renowned Burkinabé singer Abdoulaye Cissé, accompanying some of Africa’s leading artists—notably Oumou Sangaré and the late Manu Dibango—and most recently singing with Les Amazones d’Afrique. She also carved out space for a personal cause, raising funds for Burkina Faso’s Deaf Youth Institute, her support inspired by her brother, hearing-impaired since contracting meningitis as a child. Guira’s wide-ranging music background required a command of multiple genres and languages which, she observes, both complicated and ultimately aided the search for her own style, dubbed “Afro-Faso electro”—a fusion of Burkinabé folk and contemporary urban sounds. The highlight of the 11 album tracks is her voice, at once powerful and mellow, singing social commentary in Mooré, Dioula and French. In Yelema (Change, video 1) she sees a deteriorating world and wonders if the chaos is designed to get humanity’s attention; while in Pagbatem (Women Are Evolving, video 2) she describes women taking control of their own destinies. Vie Chère (The Cost of Living, video 3) portrays the term “financial crisis” as an excuse for the elites to ignore poverty. Guira has messages for common folk as well: The title track is an anthem of work and mutual support (video 4); and Karango (Education, video 5) promotes gender equality in learning. Nagtaba is an illuminating and radical album that encourages people to have fun while also creating a better world. (Que du Bonheur en Son)

Kangy Guira: Nagtaba / Together
Kandy Guira: Lead vocals
Yohann Le Ferrand: Guitar
Sosthène Ouedraogo: Guitar
Kevin Ouedraogo: Percussion, drums
Tito Taddei: Guitar
Sacha Le Roy: Bass, backing vocals
Dando Paré: Bass
Hamidou Dakissaga: Kunde
Yoann Danier: Guitar, drums
Alex Nkuinfoua: Drums

Guest artists
Alif Naaba: Lead vocals
Floby: Lead vocals
Mai Lingani: Lead vocals
Jowee Omicil: Saxophone

Yelema / Change
Lyrics & music: Kandy Guira, Yohann Le Ferrand

From the lyrics in Dioula
What’s happening with people?
Why are people’s eyes not open?

Before the world was so good/There was no hunger, it was joy
Humans with their history, after that/Misfortune has happened
That’s why I say…

If I turn there (the east), there’s war/If I turn there (the west), the earth shakes
If I turn there (north), fires are burning/If I turn there (south), let’s be vigilant

All this happened so that we will pay attention to the world for our children
All this happened to make us take care of the earth
All this happened so that we will pay attention to the world for our children
Yes, it has all happened

In my view, things can change, but we must join hands
It is humanity being that can, at all costs, heal this world

If I turn there, there’s war/If I turn there, the earth shakes
If I turn there, fires are burning/If I turn there, let’s be vigilant

The rain beats us down and we’re here fighting
The rain beats us down and we’re ruining our lives
The rain beats us down and we fight among ourselves

Pagbatem / Women Are Evolving
Lyrics & music: Kandy Guira

From the lyrics in Mooré (Mossi)
Women are evolving/they are not like before
Women are changing/they are no longer like the women of the past

Come listen/Before they were only arms, feet and bodies
They didn’t have a head for reflection/they did what they were told without flinching
Even if it hurt them/They obeyed

Women are evolving/they are not like before
Women are changing/they are no longer like the women of the past

Forgive me dear mother/I have a question I want to ask you, to find out…
Why in all customs, is it always the woman who suffers (misfortune) first?
The worst is that it is women who perpetuate these misdeeds (these traditions)
When you don’t know, you have to ask/For it is a woman who will save a woman

Women are evolving/they are not like before
Women are changing/they are no longer like the women of the past

The women of the past and the women of today are not the same
The women of the past and the women of today are not the same

It’s a woman who will save another woman
It’s a woman who will save another woman

Women are evolving/they are not like before
Women are changing/they are no longer like the women of the past

Vie Chère / Expensive Life, feat. Alif Naaba
Lyrics & music: Kandy Guira, Alif Naaba
Summary: We must not hide behind “the financial crisis” to steal from honest people who work to just earn a living. So-called poverty is rebranded in the 21st century “the economic crisis.”

From the lyrics in Mooré (Mossi)
Worry of worries
The crisis brings new worries
Expensive life brings problems

The rich say their money is totally gone/Leaders say there is no more money
The homeowners say they have nothing left/The leaders say there is no more money
And the people who have never had anything?/Will they have missed everything then?
What should they say?
The men and women who work hard/Are all looking for something to feed their children

The crisis has brought other worries
The cost of living has added problems

Lower your head look/Open your eyes look!
How hard life got/Take a walk and see how the world isn’t like it used to be
Children cry every day/Children crying from hunger
Hunger every day

The crisis has brought new worries
The cost of living has brought problems

Children want to eat/Want to go to school
Want to be cared for/Want to be clothed
But there is nothing to give them/What should we tell them?
The men and women who work hard/Are all looking for something to feed their children

The crisis has brought new worries
The cost of living has brought problems

Nagtaba / Together
Lyrics & music: Kandy Guira

From the lyrics in Mooré (Mossi)
You and me/We go together
And we’ll throw ourselves into the market of Life/We’ll have the world at our fingertips

There are many among us who spend their time/Sleeping in their mother’s skirts
Devouring all they can/Vegetating and then complaining that there are no jobs

But you and me/If we get together
We’ll go into the market of Life/We’ll have the world at our fingertips

Stop running in circles/And look for something to do
Some spend their time in bars/To get drunk
And then they complain that there’s nothing to do
There are others who prefer to spend their time/Well dressed, insulting passers-by
And who then say/It’s because there’s nothing to do

But you and me/If we get together
We’ll go into the market of life/We’ll have the world at our fingertips

Karango / Education
Lyrics & music: Kandy Guira

From the lyrics in Mooré (Mossi)
Schooling all children, girls and boys
No child is better than another
No child is better than another
They are all equal, no difference

Every child has the right to go to school
Whether girl or a boy
They all have the right to go to school

Papa, I don’t want the little girls to stay home anymore
I’m begging you papa, I don’t want my little sisters to stay home anymore
Now it’s not the same as it was before!
Knowledge is learned, knowledge is sought, research changes the world.
Momma, papa, auntie, educate all children, girl or boy

No child is better than another
No child is better than another
They are all equal, no difference

Schooling all children, girls and boys
Ignorance restricts, knowledge liberates
Every child has the right to go to school regardless of gender
Everyone has the right to know

Schooling all children, girls and boys
Now it’s not the same as it was before
The world works thanks to knowledge, so it is knowledge that liberates
Let’s give all children the same chance

No child is better than another
No child is better than another
They are all equal, no difference

Momma, papa, auntie, send the children to school, all of them, girls or boys
Schooling all children, girls and boys