57 images Created 27 Apr 2018
Festival Culture et Hippique de Barani (FECHIBA), Burkina Faso
In the far northwest of Burkina Faso that borders Mali, is the Boucle du Mouhoun region. Here lies the Kossi Province that includes the major towns of Barani (home of the Amirou), Kombori, Bomborokui, Nouna (administrative capital), Dokui, Doumbala, Djibasso, Madouba, and numerous small villages. This is Burkina Faso’s southernmost edge of the Sahel zone.
Population: 52,710 (Est.).
Main ethnic groups: Fulani, Samo, Marka, Bwaba, and Bobo.
Languages: Baraniire/Fulfulde, Dioula, and French.
The Festival Culturel et Hippique de Barani (FECHIBA)
..350.3km [4h 51 min.] west-northwest of Ouagadougou, on surfaced road lies the bustling town of Nouna. Another 7km of bumpy, dusty, dirt road I arrive in Barani ..a quaint village of seated royalty also famed home of ‘West Africa’s Cowboys.’ It’s the hot dry season, after the harvest, and the customary period for festivals and ceremonies. Today was opening day of the FECHIBA annual equestrian festival. Began in 2000, this extraordinary event celebrates the tradition of horsemanship and unique skill of the renown Fulani chevalier. FECHIBA honors centuries old horse culture dating back to the founding of the Emirate of Barani ..echoing the tradition and colorful pageantry of the Durbar festivals celebrated throughout the Sahel. It’s said that America’s ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ were descendants of this culture.
With horsemen arriving from as far away as Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria, the festivities were underway with an excited momentum that would go non-stop, for three days ..sunup to sundown. The festive atmosphere was filled with melodious chants by griots praising and recalling the lineal history of the Amirou Al Haji Sidibe Saali, Chief of the Kossi Province.
The people of Barani, neighboring villagers, and visitors from afar turned out in full regalia ..everyone stunningly gorgeous from head-to-toe! Young women wearing intricately braided, amber and glass beaded hairstyles, trimmed with nickel coins. The young men in colorful turbans or the leather detailed, wide brimmed straw hats of Fulani tradition.
In a display of homage to the Amirou, riders – dressed in their grandest boubous – danced their finely adorned horses to the syncopated rhythms of Weltaari music and performed masterful horsemanship to the awe and amusement of the hundreds of spectators. Later there were the haaro (horseraces), lutte (wrestling matches), feasting ..and by nightfall, singing and dancing Denke Denke went on until sunrise.
February 2010, February 2011, March 2013©Me; my cameras; and Fujichrome
Population: 52,710 (Est.).
Main ethnic groups: Fulani, Samo, Marka, Bwaba, and Bobo.
Languages: Baraniire/Fulfulde, Dioula, and French.
The Festival Culturel et Hippique de Barani (FECHIBA)
..350.3km [4h 51 min.] west-northwest of Ouagadougou, on surfaced road lies the bustling town of Nouna. Another 7km of bumpy, dusty, dirt road I arrive in Barani ..a quaint village of seated royalty also famed home of ‘West Africa’s Cowboys.’ It’s the hot dry season, after the harvest, and the customary period for festivals and ceremonies. Today was opening day of the FECHIBA annual equestrian festival. Began in 2000, this extraordinary event celebrates the tradition of horsemanship and unique skill of the renown Fulani chevalier. FECHIBA honors centuries old horse culture dating back to the founding of the Emirate of Barani ..echoing the tradition and colorful pageantry of the Durbar festivals celebrated throughout the Sahel. It’s said that America’s ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ were descendants of this culture.
With horsemen arriving from as far away as Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria, the festivities were underway with an excited momentum that would go non-stop, for three days ..sunup to sundown. The festive atmosphere was filled with melodious chants by griots praising and recalling the lineal history of the Amirou Al Haji Sidibe Saali, Chief of the Kossi Province.
The people of Barani, neighboring villagers, and visitors from afar turned out in full regalia ..everyone stunningly gorgeous from head-to-toe! Young women wearing intricately braided, amber and glass beaded hairstyles, trimmed with nickel coins. The young men in colorful turbans or the leather detailed, wide brimmed straw hats of Fulani tradition.
In a display of homage to the Amirou, riders – dressed in their grandest boubous – danced their finely adorned horses to the syncopated rhythms of Weltaari music and performed masterful horsemanship to the awe and amusement of the hundreds of spectators. Later there were the haaro (horseraces), lutte (wrestling matches), feasting ..and by nightfall, singing and dancing Denke Denke went on until sunrise.
February 2010, February 2011, March 2013©Me; my cameras; and Fujichrome
