About Zangala
We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Marin County, California. We began building our organization in 2003, founded the non-profit in 2007, and have provided more than $350,000.00 in funding over 20+ years in support of our programs, projects, and events in Burkina Faso.
Our name, Zangala, is a Dagara word for the main foyer of the Dagara family community of structures and common spaces. The Zangala is the beating heart of the family’s home, seeming to grow upward naturally from the earthen ground, and it brings the deep medicine of the earth into full focus. It is a place of gathering for ritual and celebration, in grief, and in the minutiae of day-to-day family life.
The Zangala is a large mud-brick structure, with 2-4ft thick walls and log-reinforced roof structures capable of supporting hundreds of people in ritual dancing. It provides a central location for family and community activities, including feasts, grain processing, ceremonies, and informal gatherings. It holds a huge clay grain storage jar, sometimes up to 15ft tall and 30ft in diameter, and is the place of women’s medicine, family balafons, and the most important family ancestral shrines. It is also where the family’s children often sleep, and it offers a tranquil, cool place to gather and rest during the hottest days of the warm season.
For all these reasons and more, Zangala was chosen as the name of our organization, to anchor our work in the sacred traditions at the heart of Dagara family culture, and to give form and purpose to our efforts in supporting the balafon festival that originally carried the same namesake.
Our Mission
Regenerating the ancient wisdom of Dagara culture.
From our inception, all of our efforts have been carried out in partnership with numerous local Dagara individuals and organizations in Burkina Faso, who bring an authentic and potent element to our organization and the living mission that we serve.
Many of our team members in the West have worked with Dagara spiritual healing practices, known as “Stick Medicine” divination, and have experienced first-hand the powerful transformational effect of listening and collaborating more deeply with our ancestors, the elements of nature, and the wild itself. Some of us, including our founders and current leadership, have been chosen to carry the divination lineage in our own lives as Initiated Diviners, continuing to expand the reach of the Daraga healing wisdom far beyond the borders of Burkina Faso and around the world.
We know in our hearts that the imbalances that create such deep suffering for so many in the “developed world” are created from disconnection from community, ancestors, and the earth. And we have experienced the healing and transformation that is possible when we begin to listen more deeply and collaborate with spirit in the timeless traditional ways that are second nature to the Dagara people.
In that light, while Burkina Faso and Dagara communities are considered among the poorest in the world, from a Western point of view, we know that they are also among the richest in the world in terms of the unbroken cultural traditions, deep-rooted community spirit, and timeless connections to the wisdom streams of nature and the unseen worlds.
It will take generations of deep devotion to adapt these ancient teachings in a way that is accessible and able to be integrated into the modern world. And to that end, we share a vision that the work of Zangala can be a regenerative force for good, bringing healing, connection, and peace in our hearts as we collectively navigate a deeply conflicted world.
Zangala will not exist forever, but the hope is that the Balafon instrument with its timeless enchanting melodies and rhythms will continue to anchor the path forward, with its deeply resonant rhythms, sounds, and songs that call to the spirits and ancestors to join together in joy and grief as we gather and heal our hearts, lives, and communities.
We welcome all those who want to partner and contribute to our initiatives. There is a place for you at our table to meaningfully contribute to our mission to create a better world for all by regenerating the ancient wisdom of Dagara culture.
Our History
A brief timeline of Zangala’s journey and milestones.
2003, The Fire is Sparked to Life: It all began following contact between co-founders Poda Kpentol David, a Dagara man, and Mark Bockley. They began speaking about the unique expression of Dagara culture, its legacy, especially in light of the every encroaching allure of modernity. They discovered a shared vision to create a way to help the core of the culture remain vibrant, relevant, inviting, and true to its deep roots.
The conversation soon coalesced around the importance and the role of the balafon in all aspects of Dagara life, sacred and profane. Music and dance are both essential partners to the role of ritual, vision, memory, creativity, and the repository of ancient wisdom and tradition. Together they realized that helping to elevate, promote, and bring a sense of contemporary relevance to the balafon could be highly impactful in helping to retain, deeper, and invite broader engagement in and appreciation for Dagara culture in all its forms.
The balafon is the soundtrack to almost everything that happens for the Dagara. Births, marriages, funerals, chants of the praise singers, stories of the griots, and more. The thesis was simple; the balafon and its music is foundational to almost all dimensions of Dagara culture. To celebrate, elevate, and shine the light on it could only help re-activate its prominence and relevance for the Dagara - and most importantly, allow it to remain relevant, meaningful, and current. And with that, the Zangala Balafon Festival was born!
2005, The Water Begins to Flow: The first festival was organized in March 2005 and included only male balafonists. For three nights crowds packed in to watch, dance, and celebrate this unusual spectacle of various Balafon troupes performing and competing together. During this first foray, there were only two balafon styles represented. Yet still, it was a smashing success!
The winners of the Balafon competition that year were a group led by Some Hilaire. His acclaim following his festival performance led to a rapid rise in popularity and success, and over the next 5 years he performed around the country and helped put Dagara Balafon music on the national map. His ensemble competed in regional, national, and international balafon competitions and won several coveted awards. Sadly Hilaire died too early, and his musical genius continues to be sorely missed!
2006: The popularity of the event, and the enthusiasm throughout the community led to a second edition, which occurred in February 2006. This time the event included the participation of women, and highlighted their particular roles in many important aspects of the musical culture of the Dagara, including women’s group chorale (a traditional song form amongst the Dagara). While most songs have traditional roles and versions, they allow for rich, funny, deep, revelatory commentary on local culture, current happenings and so on. The crowds loved the creativity, and also the depth of the roots of the medicine which allows for important themes and ideas to be shared, experienced and appreciated.
2007, The Roots Deepen into the Earth: The ensuing enthusiasm of the community led us to enlarge the third edition with the participation of Griots; or praise singers who are essential in key rituals whether a wedding or a funeral with their unique and divinatory form of singing. This third edition demonstrated the importance and centrality of the balafon and also included the primary schools with their balafon and dance troupes invited into the festival.
During this time Zangala placed a pair of balafons in all of the schools in the Dano and Koper region, 30 schools in total, and all 30 schools sent 210 musicians to the festival to perform. This initiative motivated all the schools in the area as it brought the traditional Dagara sacred instrument into the classrooms, which until that time had been a realm dominated by Western learning with all classes taught in French!
But now with the balafons in the school teachers and students asked skilled balafonists, dancers, and singers from their community to come into the schools to help them learn the traditional balafon music, songs, and dance steps. Parents who did not speak French, and would previously hesitate and feel ill at ease in the classrooms, were now seen as valued and worthy carriers of important cultural knowledge. The balafon proved to be a skillful ambassador for many powerful changes and awakenings.
2008: In 2008, the festival did not take place in its typical format due to the death of Master Bernadin, son of the chiefdom. The artists invited to perform and complete went to honor the funeral, and the traditional part of the festival was canceled. Yet the recent inclusion of primary school student performance troupes continued its momentum, and the scaled down festival included only student performers, with 35 schools represented and 325 student participants.
2009: The fifth edition in February 2009 was very special as it attracted the attention and joint sponsorship of the Dreyer Foundation in Dano. For this festival, the Dreyer Foundation sponsored the school component allowing various schools from around the province of Ioba to participate, including 35 troupes who competed in a range of competitions including balafon music, dance, and girls choral singing. The engagement of the children in all of this was deeply significant. The competition shone the spotlight on the power of the medicine and the voice, the presence and stature of the musicians within the community, as well as the Dagara culture as a whole. Students were highly engaged, proud, and very energized to participate. It was the talk of the town for so many budding musicians to showcase their talents and a huge source of pride for all.
2010: For the sixth edition of the event, our local organizers decided to rename the festival to Fesmuda, which is an acronym for Dagara Music Festival. The number of participants grew to several hundred, and crowds of spectators were huge. The festival stretched from morning till deep into the night for 3-4 days. There were 40 schools in total and hundreds of student participants who performed. Fesmuda went on to become the student music festival for the Dagara people in the Province of Ioba, where Dano is located. This festival also was now organized within the National Provincial Education Office of Burkina Faso.
2011, The Mountains and Minerals Now Carried the Stories: By the arrival of the 2011 version of the festival, the Zangala organization had managed to secure a 5-hectare parcel of land dedicated to the music festival to serve as its permanent home close to the center of Dano. We also created a huge 40 meter (~125ft) square concrete stage to host all the participants’ performances. We also constructed a covering for a huge number of seats for spectators to comfortably enjoy the show. We now had a dedicated site, held and managed by a group of 15-20 Tingan Sob’s* from the surrounding area. Their engagement and holding is and was essential to the flowering of this festival. During this time the geographic footprint of participants was broadened significantly drawing on more distant Dagara towns, villages, and schools. They were all very eager to share their own talents and participate in this growing movement, and our team organized regional competitions to select the most qualified adults and students from their respective villages to compete in the main event.
*Tingan Sob is a sacred community role, held by a Dagara medicine person responsible for tending a particular type of earth shrine devoted to the proper organization of the community, in harmony with earth spirits and the wild. Tingan is a masculine aspect of the Earth spirit in Dagara cosmology that brings structure and coherence to the community of human life, and the Tingan Shrine is a central element of Dagara life, including personal and collective rituals and ceremonies.
2012, The Forces of Nature Converged to Regenerate: In 2012 we saw a monumental increase to 837 artists participating, and the festival was held at a cultural site called Dagarateo, which included 11 Dagara concessions (traditional mud dwellings) which unfortunately have since fallen. A well was drilled to bring water to the site and a large performance stage was also erected. The site was fenced with trees and a large moringa garden.
A significant investment from Zangala was made to help build a grand stage and hangar structure to shelter the audiences during performances. A huge 200-foot square concrete stage with a Dagara wrestling ring at its center was constructed as the main stage for the festival. The Chefferie, or Chieftancy, of Dano, perhaps best described as the main seat of traditional and spiritual Dagara authority, mobilized itself to help support our initiatives this year. Media Domeguile Joachim was also a key supporter of the festival this year as well.
In total 60 schools were present with 410 student participants, in addition to the huge number of adult balafon troupes, women’s choir groups, Cantateurs groups or praise singer/griots, and more performed and competed for prizes.
2013: This year, again supported by Zangala and the generosity of Media Domeguile Joachim proved to be a great success, with numerous adult groups competing for prizes and the 6th edition of the Fesmuda students festival, which now included 62 schools and 420 participants sharing their amazing music, dancing skills and singing.
2014: In 2014 the festival was also partially sponsored and financed by the Minister of Human Rights and included the presence of the Ministry of Culture, including Baba Hama, the Minister of Communication of Culture, and Somda Julie, the Minister of Women’s Promotion. In addition the festival was registered in the national agenda as a key priority for the national government. The festival was held at the Museum of the Woman, and after over a decade promoting the Dagara balafon competition, it was clear to all that there is now a growing engagement with supporting and valuing Dagara culture and its importance. Students, both boys and girls, insisted on having their schools represented in the festival, and they dedicated significant time to perfecting their skills. This also led to their parents and elders with deep knowledge of the musical and other traditions to assist them, and to attend the festival, further proving the thesis that elevating and celebrating the balafon created a cultural renaissance for Dagara traditions. In short, the festival demonstrated that culture is cool! In total there were 70 schools and 450 student participants who performed.
2015: This year the festival was once again financially supported by Somda Julie and held at the Museum of the Woman in Dano. There were 80 schools and 460 student participants this year. Due to a lack of funds, the adult component of the festival had to be curtailed.
2016: Students led the way again with 82 schools sending their students to share their skills and enthusiasm. 470 participants attended the festival held once again at the Museum of the Woman’s grounds in Dano. This year the festival was supported by Dr. Magloire Some, a University Professor who also presented a conference on Dagara Anthropology.
2017: The festival moved back to the Dagarateo site this year and 90 schools presenting 480 student participants performed for the crowds. Again, the festival was backed by Magloire Some, the University Professor. The active participation and support of different supporters was publicly recognized on behalf of The Dreyer Foundation, Zangala, and other supporters.
2018: A lack of fundraising support and dearth of other sponsors required that the festival be canceled this year! Boo hoo! It was a shame.
2019: This year the festival once again changed its name, and introduced the new title, FASIE, an acronym for what is now essentially a student-focused festival of culture and music. In total there were 95 schools with 520 participants performing. The FASIE festival effectively replacing Fesmuda branch of the earlier editions of the Dagara Balafon Festival. This year also included several days of cultural initiation, teaching, and artistic activities in the schools, as well as distributing more balafons in additional schools. Meetings were also held in eight different regions throughout the Ioba province to evaluate the success and focus of various festival iniatives. The sessions were organized and led by Poda Kpentol David, one of the original founders of Zangala and the Balafon Festival. Four issues stood out for all; the fact that many of the artists are quite old now, the absence of creativity amongst the artists, and the lack of support from those Dagara people who have moved elsewhere in the country, and there were also calls for a renewed vision for the initiative.
2020 & 2021: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was not permitted to occur for the safety and well being of the community. In 2021 there were limited activities that persevered within local school sites, with additional balafons and drums provided to some schools, continuing the momentum of the event through challenging times.
2022 & 2023: Following the COVID-related hiatus, the FASIE festival revived its efforts and drew participation from hundreds of student participants from 25-30 schools throughout the Ioba province. Zangala continues to support the local organizers and leaders with resources, and local supporters began to provide additional sponsorship and funding to ensure the festival would be a continued success.
2024 and Beyond: Zangala is working hard to revitalize our community of support to ensure a wildly successful festival in 2024 and beyond. Festival organizers decided to delay the festival into Fall 2024 to ensure sufficient financial support is secured for a thriving event. We need your help to keep FASIE alive and well this year and beyond! Donate today, and join our mailing list to stay up to date on our activities, ways you can contribute and support, and to continue deepening with us as we unravel the mysteries of the ancient healing wisdom of Dagara culture, the balafon, and the timeless traditions therein!
