Even DJs don't escape junta's 'revolution' in Burkina Faso

Abidjan: A DJ mixing tracks at a lively bar in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso's economic capital, found himself suddenly confronted by the military-led country's culture minister.

"All the music you've played is imported music," Pingdwende Gilbert Ouedraogo declared disapprovingly, while the DJ stood silent.

"We haven't come tonight to punish you... We're here to raise your awareness. Consuming Burkinabe products also means promoting our artists," the minister told him.

The surprise encounter which the culture ministry showed on its social media account last month was part of an information campaign, in line with the nationalist rhetoric of the West African country's rulers.

Junta chief Ibrahim Traore has pushed an agenda of domestically driven policies with the proclaimed aim of reclaiming national sovereignty, since seizing power in a September 2022 coup.

The 38-year-old captain, who recently told Burkinabes to "forget" about democracy, says he is leading a "popular progressive revolution".

That now includes a stipulation that 50 to 70 percent of music played at leisure venues be from Burkina Faso.

Despite the popularity of Afrobeats from Nigeria or Ivorian dance music, bars and other public places will be required to stick to homegrown talent on their sound systems with stars such as Floby, who sings in French and the local Moore language, or rapper Smarty.

Styling himself on former leader Thomas Sankara, a charismatic anti-colonial icon of African rebellion who was killed in a 1987 coup, Traore openly defends an anti-imperialist programme.

"He has successfully channelled a widespread pan-Africanist and anti-French sentiment, positioning himself as the one who will complete the unfulfilled revolution" of Sankara, Folahanmi Aina, an analyst on conflicts in the Sahel region, said in a study published last month.

Under Traore, Burkina Faso has nationalised several gold mines.

The traditional Faso Danfani handwoven fabric, popular during Sankara's short tenure, is again widely worn in the civil service and schools.

"With the calls to consume, produce, process and eat Burkinabe products, sovereignty comes right down onto the plate, into everyday habits, into objects into the domestic economy," analyst Julien Hoffmann, also a Sahel expert, wrote in an article.

A local musician welcomed the new music rule as "an opportunity" for the Burkinabe scene.

"The breakthrough will come," the artist enthused.

But, local products are often more expensive, especially when purchasing power has been dented by three years of political upheaval on top of a decade of jihadist violence.

"Whether it's rice, Faso Danfani or other local products, what is made here and should be accessible to everyone is turning into a luxury item," a resident in the second city grumbled.

Popular mobilisation around the homeland and the nation is the common thread running through Traore's "revolution", which mostly shapes military issues.

Soldiers and police officers have taken to releasing their own music military songs about glory and courage to motivate the rank and file.

Traore has also ordered a band be set up to play at official ceremonies to boost morale and help rally the troops.

The captain has recruited thousands of civilian volunteers to fight alongside the army.

Together, they have been accused by Human Rights Watch of killing at least 1,255 civilians in 2023, twice as many victims as a militant jihadist group.

Burkinabe authorities denied the accusation.

The military leadership has also introduced a mandatory one-month "patriotic immersion" scheme for high school graduates.

The programme is presented as a way to train engaged citizens who are ready to defend their country against jihadists.

Similarly, ministry staff and other public servants are also sent, several hundred at a time, for "patriotic immersion".

Two years ago, the junta set up a Patriotic Support Fund to equip the army, financed by public contributions that raised 496 billion CFA francs over three years (around $880 million, 756 million euros).

Traore stresses that the country's leaders will not hesitate to "enforce order and discipline" among the population.

"You don't make a revolution in chaos," he warned last year.

Critics are silenced by being shipped off to the front line to fight jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have waged violence for more than a decade, causing thousands of deaths.

France's TV5 Monde last week became the latest international media outlet to be banned.

Numerous journalists have been arrested or abducted and also forced to the front line.

Aina, the researcher, said Traore was "neither simply a saviour nor merely a dictator".

Rather, he is "an ambivalent figure whose authority is rooted in anti-imperialist promise and consolidated through authoritarian practice," he said.