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Burkina Faso "The Singers of Bani" Jay Dunn 16 images Created 11 Jul 2008

West Africa, Burkina Faso, 2007. -- For extended periods of time, a ragged, inspiring collection of men and boys chant as a form of praise to Allah, some using forked sticks to lean on in their weariness. Their mesmerizing call and response across a tiny courtyard echoes all day and night through the town, famous for its seven mud mosques amid the lunar landscape that is eastern Burkina. -- More at www.jaydunn.org --
Humanitarian Issues & Cultural Tradition Worldwide
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. Vultures loom over the empty courtyard of the "Grand Mosquee" in Bani.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.01.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. Atop the barren landscape a few hundred meters from town, a shepherd surveys the territory near one of Bani's seven mud mosques.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.02.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. A stout forked stick is used by the devotional singers of Bani to rest on. Children as well as adults need this prop.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.03.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. The village is almost wholly built of mud and local wooden beams, as are the seven mosques that dot the landscape.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.04.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. The call and response of Bani's Muslim devotional singing requires almost constant attention, and these boys give it all they can.
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. Eyes closed in concentration, a man participates in the devotional singing of the town's Muslims.
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. By midday, almost everyone in this group was clearly exhausted, yet the singer's call and response continued until well after dark.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.07.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. The Grand Mosquee, centerpiece of the village, was built several hundred years ago during an era of great religious fervor in Burkina Faso.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.08.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. Mud construction cool even in the midday heat, the arched interior passageways of the Grand Mosquee lead to a large central prayer hall.
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. A local watches his flock and a group of boys playing football far below on the dry-season floodplain outside of town.
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. The graceful curve of a mature zebu's horn, seen in the dying light of afternoon near the main road.
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. In the graveyard along the steep path to the top of the flats, signs of life among the volcanic rocks of Bani's desert environment.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.12.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. The main hall of the Grand Mosquee in Bani, one of seven magnificent mud mosques built during a Muslim renaissance several centuries ago.
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  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. Many of the Muslim devotional singers of Bani are children, enthusiastic in their embrace of the tradition but showing the strain of standing for hours.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.14.bani.jpg
  • BURKINA FASO, Bani, 2007. The sun dips behind a mosque's minaret atop the flats overlooking Bani village.
    BURKINA.JDUNN.15.bani.jpg
  • Burkina Faso, Bani, 2007. Boys sing at a Muslim ritual lasting twenty-four hours.
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