Burkina Electric is the first electronica band from Burkina Faso, in the deep interior of West Africa. With its main base in the music scene of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital, it is, at the same time, an international band, with members living in New York, U.S.A. and Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as in Ouaga. In Burkina Electric's music, the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso meet and mingle with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. Before starting Burkina Electric in 2004, band members Maï Lingani, Wende K. Blass, Pyrolator, and Lukas Ligeti had become close friends as members of Beta Foly, a group that emerged from a workshop led by Lukas and Pyrolator in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, which, among other experiments, created some of the earliest fusions of techno/trip-hop with African traditional music.

Saturday's Mondo Mundo Festival show at Hiro Ballroom (tickets) also serves as the CD release party for Burkina Electric's debut LP, Paspanga, which is coming out February 9th on Cantaloupe Music. Chris Weingarten describes the album as "West African ebullience, timeless electronic brainbugs, tireless experimentation, no hipster pandering". I'm listening to it on repeat as I type this. The group combines composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti, vocalist Maï Lingani, guitarist Wende K. Blass, VJ/sound artist Pyrolator, and dancers Vicky and Zoko Zoko.

Listen to some songs on MySpace. All dates below...

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