Lydie and September

Well, it's about time we have a brief update before September passes us by without a blog update! (haha, I guess it did. October too. Wow.)

The big thing this month has been Lydie, one of Isaac and Sonia's tanties, coming to visit us! We have been pretty busy each weekend and working during the week. The first weekend we went to Central Oregon to our very good friend Craig and Lisa's wedding, then went by Crater Lake.

The second weekend, we went to Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel. Ignore my face. The chicken was really good.

Then we went to the Portland Zoo.

Then Lydie went to Newport for two days with my family.

 (Photo by London)

The next weekend we went to Seattle (almost immediately after we picked up Ibrahim, Papa's nephew). Obviously the goal was to show Lydie as many places as possible in one month. :) We stayed with a friend from Burkina who we have been meaning to see for awhile, (but we have always cancelled our trips because, well, things come up...) Victorien and his family.

 Funny story - the sandals I am wearing in this picture broke while we were in Seattle. I bought them about 2 years ago when Isaac and I were visiting Seattle and the only pair of sandals I had brought broke. I guess they just wanted to make it back to Seattle before giving out on me.

We got to see Victorien's daughter play in her soccer game too, and on the way back, got to stop by a birthday party for Auntie Fritz and meet Uncle Doug, Great Aunt Christy and Great Aunt Kathy and Great Uncles John and George in one fell swoop. So, it was a nice, although exhausting weekend. Driving tires me out and we couldn't quite fit everyone in one car so we took two. 

The next weekend was special because it was the wedding reception of one of my best childhood friends and bridesmaids, Chel, and her new husband Kai! Many happy years to you two! They are a ridiculously good-looking couple. :) Apparently, though, I did not get a flattering picture of them. Don't worry, I didn't overdo it and ruin all their wedding photos with the flash. Just the three I tried didn't turn out well enough to put here.

They had the reception at a neat location where I didn't have to worry about the kids getting run over if they ran off :) and they had a special play area just for the kids too. The ArtFarm Barn in Seal Rock. Artsy.

I felt kind of dumb because I told Auntie Anna that it would be fine to leave London with us and she could go home to study, then London had a total meltdown and we almost had to leave early. Next time I will NOT do that if it is near bedtime.

We loved having you here, Tantie Lydie!

Sonia still asks, "Where's Tantie Lydie?"  She will actually answer her own question now. "She's in Burkina." 

La musique d'Isaac: South Africa

Well, we don't know as much about South African music. We don't really understand what they are saying (well, unless it is in English). But we like it all the same. This isn't a genre, just a collection of several South African artists.

One of our favorites is the group "The Mahotella Queens". We have one of their CDs.

 

You might have already heard of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They are, coincidentally, not ladies, but an all-male vocal group.

Then there is Brenda Fassie! 

And Yvonne Chaka Chaka

Those are some of the South African artists we have listened to over the past few years. Of course Lucky Dube is one too, but we already covered him under the African reggae guys.

La musique d'Isaac: Mbalax

Um, so I didn't know this music genre existed until this week. I was telling Papa how I was running out of African music genres we listen to as a family and how maybe I would just do a few more artists, but then he pointed out that Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal are both musicians that belong to the Mbalax genre. "How do you spell that?" :)

This is a Baaba Maal song, "Fanta". Actually I'm not entirely sure if it is the same genre as Youssou N'Dour. We really just listen to Youssou N'Dour. :) Still, it is good to know about him!

And this is Youssou N'Dour, who definitely sings "Mbalax".

La musique d'Isaac: African reggae

Another genre: African reggae. It was funny - I typed in "African reggae" in Google on accident, not thinking. Anyway, the three artists I was thinking about sharing here, that Papa listens to, were all mentioned three of the "four most famous reggae artists in Africa".

Alpha Blondy: We like him - he is from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). He has opinions on a lot of issues, political and otherwise (see also"Abortion is a Crime"). He also has some songs that don't have a deep message at all - maybe it is about 50/50. This one is called "Sankara", after Thomas Sankara, who is the revolutionary leader who was president of Burkina Faso and renamed it as such.

Tiken Jah Fakoly: Also sings in French mostly. Also from the Ivory Coast.

Lucky Dube: We used to listen to this South African musician more - he got fatally shot a few years ago (in 2007). It was a really sad story - some carjackers shot him after he dropped two of his children off at their uncle's house. I just can't ever fathom why people kill other people over material possessions. So low.

And Papa just reminded me of another of his favorites: Ismael Isaac. Of course we are a little biased towards the francophone West African artists. :) He is also from the Ivory Coast.

La musique d'Isaac: La musique mandingue

Mandingue music comes from the Bambara (aka Dioula) people who are found mostly in Mali, the southwest part of Burkina Faso, part of Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, and Gambia - it is from the area of the former Mandingue empire. One of the most well-known Mandigue kings and fighters was Samory Toure, the emperor of Wassoulou, who fought against the European invasion. He was known to be a fierce fighter - the French had a lot of difficulty fighting his troops. He used a strategy called "terre brulee" meaning, burn the ground, where they would set fire to everything if they thought the enemy was getting too close. There you go, a little history lesson, courtesy of Papa.


Here is Sekouba Bambino. Notice that this music style sounds a bit more melancholy than the others! It can be used to address a wide range of subjects, but has a more serious tone than zouglou or zouk.this one is a love song though.

Amy Koita - Diarabi (pronounced Jarabee), which I believe means "my sweetheart". Again, another love song, but a more serious and poetic take on the subject.

Salif Keita - Moussoulou. This is a song about women and how important they are to society. Salif Keita is pretty famous internationally. He is albino and was the son of a traditional ruler (I think!). His father disowned him when he decided to pursue music, but the rest of the world really appreciates him and his beautiful voice! Although it is more of a cross-over song, you can also look for "Yamore" which he sings with Cesaria Evora. Very pretty.

Amadou et Mariam - Dimanche a Bamako. This one can be problematic if you understand French, because the refrain says "Sundays in Bamako (the capital of Mali) are the days for weddings/marriage!" It has a tendency to get stuck in my head if I listen to Papa's Amadou & Mariam CD. Apparently they are both blind and met at a school for the blind. Also pretty well known outside of their country.

I am sure there are many more mandingue artists out there, but this gives you a good sampling of some of the more famous ones!

La musique d'Isaac: Zouglou

On to another musical genre: Zouglou! This genre is pretty much from Cote d'Ivoire - but of course Burkinabe people listen to music from Cote d'Ivoire too since it is a neighboring francophone country. Unlike zouk, which is more about love and is romantic in nature, zouglou is more of a "folk genre" (according to Papa, maybe he means "popular") and talks about society or situations people encounter in day to day situations.

Magic System - very famous. When Mama and Papa first met, Mama was happy that Papa had a Magic System tape, and I think Papa was a little surprised that Mama knew of Magic System. Magic System has recently branched out into other genres since, but this is where they started.

Some other guys....so, as you can see, by "folk" it might be more like "pop". Not sure what the story is on this one! Anyway, this way you can get the idea of the genre!

La musique d'Isaac: Afro Zouk

I thought I should do a little series of posts on the kind of music we listen to at our house. This week I want to go over different African genres of music we especially like. And today, one of our favorites - African zouk! Zouk is a genre originally from the French Caribbean, but adopted very successfully by several African artists.

Monique Seka, from Cote d'Ivoire, the queen of Afro Zouk

Pierrette Adams, from the Congo...

Oliver Ngoma, from Gabon. Okay, so in this one they actually have a video and some dancing. If you have little kids watching, you might find it too "sexy" (not the way they are dressed, just the way the dance is), so just be aware. Papa and Mama like this dance though although Mama is no good at it at all.