As a partner of the music festival “Jazz à Ouaga,” an international cultural event founded in 1992, the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou invited the American band Lionel Loueke Jazz Trio to perform in Burkina Faso. As its name suggests, the band is composed of renowned guitarist Lionel Loueke, as well as bassist Massimo Biolcati and percussionist Ferenc Nemeth.
The New York-based group is widely known amongst jazz enthusiasts. They worked with the Djongo Club owned by the famous Burkinabe artist Bill Aka Kora and gave jazz master classes at a high school in Ouagadougou. They also met with local artists like Alif Naaba, with whom they improvised a jam session. In addition to cultural outreach, the band played on the Jazz à Ouaga main stage at Institut Français, at Revolution Square, and a one of a kind concert at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Ouagadougou.
