August the 16th is in many villages of Southern Italy the day to celebrate San Rocco, the medieval Saint Roch of Montpellier who preached and attended to the ill during a fourteenth century plague. The large village of Senise (PZ), in the Italian region of Basilicata, like many neighbouring settlements mixes this celebration with dances involving…

In the past two weeks I have been presenting some video fragments from the footage I am working on for the documentary The Sambla Baan. First for a presentation in Italy and later for my course on West Africa here in Manchester, I selected two short scenes that show interactions between the musician playing the…

Sorghum is a very important crop in Burkina Faso, it constitutes the most affordable food for many of its inhabitants. It is one of the least demanding and least risky crops you can invest in, for even in case rains are scarce it will give a decent production, unlike rice or corn. With it you…

As a follow-up to the post about the harvest of fonio, I relate here on the threshing session I saw today, near the same field where fonio was cultivated. Many more people where present, for the president of the association, Pénnéguê-Fo Siaka Traoré, asked a TV station in Bobo Dioulasso to make a documentary film on…

After a good bit of uncertainty it seems like the group for fonio harvesting will leave for the fields this morning. Otherwise, says Lasso’s elder brother Mussa, all the grains will fall to the ground with the next rainfall. The morning is cloudy, but it should not rain. They won’t leave early, for the fonio must get…