Success and professional achievement can change people, make them forget where they come from. But it’s quite the opposite for Abdel Ouedraogo, a Burkinabe entrepreneur based in New York who, with two of the city’s most famous African music scenes, Shrine and Sylvana, as well as multiple other flourishing businesses and about 100 employees, still carries his country, his continent, close to his heart. I am far from home, but I am proud to be African and Burkinabe, as always ” he smiled, ” it’s my engine. My permanent desire to promote Africa through music on this side of the Atlantic directs all my projects ».
But before achieving this success, Abdel Ouedraogo had to fight, and believe in himself, so that his projects would allow him from now on to be considered as THE central figure in the promotion of African music in New York, and to be an essential personality in Harlem. I started in New York by washing dishes in a restaurant, because I had no contacts or opportunities to make a living from music when I arrived in the United States in 2001 ” he remembers, moved to look back on his first steps in Uncle Sam’s country. ” I had come two or three times in previous years, with my group Oulaba, for which I played the djembe, and I fell in love with the city. I wanted to come here at all costs! ».
The musician took on a series of odd jobs to make ends meet, and a few months later landed a job as a security guard at a club in southern Manhattan, Piano, a mecca of the rock scene. I met stars like Johnny Depp and Edward Norton, but I didn’t even know who these people were! » he smiled, “ but during this period I learned a little more about the New York nightlife world, about how to build a network in this city, and it made me want to launch out on my own “. A “raw” know-how acquired, which is added to that already accumulated in the country, where Ouedraogo was already very active in the organization of musical events, but also in the promotion of artists of all kinds.
In 2006, he decided to organize a festival in the heart of Harlem, the African Music Festival, which was a real success. Then, a year later, with his savings, he opened his first concert venue, Shrine, still in the city’s most important neighborhood for the African-American community. “ One day, I was offered this place, which was the place where Malcom X and his friends held their meetings and organized their movement. It is a historic place in the city, and I jumped at the chance! ” he smiled, ” and I decided to open this performance space for African artists, in homage to one of my idols Fela Kuti. The adventure was launched, and I felt that there was something huge to do for African music in New York..
In 2008, Barack Obama became president and all of Harlem was happy. The place becomes a place of spontaneous celebrations, and the Burkinabè is overwhelmed by this moment of history which brings a huge spotlight to its performance hall. “ It was amazing! We were packed, people were parading in the street, and we danced all night long. ” he recalls, ” It was a turning point, a launching pad for the place, which became a hotspot in the neighborhood and the city from that precise moment on. ».
Stages for African music
The name Ouedraogo is on everyone’s lips and the members of the city’s African diaspora, some 180,000 people, finally have a place where their music can be heard, where artists from the continent can perform every night. This is the essence of Shrine, from the very beginning » he specifies, “ having African artists who come directly from the continent or who live in the United States, and give them a stage on which they can make their music, and share their productions. That, for me, is worth all the gold in the world, it has been THE mission of Shrine since its opening, even if today, we also give the opportunity to groups and artists from Jazz or other genres to produce here, because the mixture of genres is also an excellent thing for creation ».
Open every evening from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m., Shrine is one of the musical hearts of the city, but Ouedraogo continues its momentum, opening in 2012, a little further south of Harlem, in a “SoHa” (editor’s note : South Harlem) more bourgeois-bohemian, Sylvanaa new performance space where several essential African DJs from the east coast of the country, such as DJ Birane (Senegal), DJ Dakar (Senegal) get the crowds dancing, as well as several local artists who offer music from Africa, but also from the rest of the world.
« Africa connects us all, and nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing people from different origins dancing, singing, having fun to sounds from the continent, but I also want our places to allow other genres to express oneself, like salsa, Latin music, which also has a very strong link with Africa “, he explains.
The musical entrepreneur is active all the time, and he is one of the privileged witnesses of the recent explosion of African music in the United States, the first sparks of which he saw more than fifteen years ago, in Harlem. “ Apart from some lovers of the genre, few people listened to sounds from Africa, but when afrobeat started to be listened to a little more, there was a big wave that started and crossed the whole country » he explains.
But the movement must be part of the long term, and open up to other genres from the continent, and Ouedraogo intends to continue pushing for this, as a philosophy of life, a permanent homage to Africa. “ We are in an extraordinary phase for music on the continent, and we must continue the momentum. I humbly try to make a contribution, but it is also the work of the diaspora and all the African communities who live here, but who are also on the other side of the Atlantic. The mission never stops! ” he smiled.
