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The Singers of Bani
The dusty green of sheltering trees stood out against the gold and russet of this place, crafted of mud and straw and hard work from the unforgiving landscape of northern Burkina Faso. Imposing walls mark the outer edges of the grand mosquee in the middle of town, its empty courtyards bare to the sun. Six other smaller structures grace the barren plateaus like sentries, each faade elegantly carved and guiding the eye toward heaven. But it was the sound of the singers that mesmerized: something about the emotions I could feel in the air really resonated with me. My friend Cisse Souabou assured me they were not going to stop, but as we approached through the maze of alleys, I couldn't move fast enough. There were perhaps fifteen in each group, their voices ragged already. It was a call and response, each wave flowing back as the other came forth, overlapping in an unearthly harmony my years of music had never prepared me to understand. Everyone had a tall forked stick on which they rested, arms holding up their tired heads, eyes rimmed already with red from six straight hours. No one sat. Across the Muslim world of North Africa, Cisse explained, people sang like this in praise. Later that afternoon, I would go up to the flat terrain above town, to think about the big picture,[url=http://www.holisteroutlet.cc]hollister outlet[/url], to watch the distant shepherds, and the boys playing football in the wide expanse below that was flood plain in the wet season. Gardens fed by well water yielded beautiful vegetables, and at dusk, the cows came in of their own accord, plodding steadily along gray tracks worn soft from use. A lone zebu sat by the road, his proud curving horns the longest in the valley. Their heaven was a place of joy, and the back of my neck still can feel the fever pitch of their emotion. And as I walked slowly back along the road at twilight, I could still hear the singers of Bani. I asked Cisse how often they celebrated this way. He said simply "Every day"

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