Bobo-Dioulasso, 23 cultural actors including 12 Living Human Treasures and 11 key partners of National Culture Week were decorated this Friday, in Bobo-Dioulasso, in the Order of Merit of the Arts, Letters and Communication, one in the rank of officer and the 22 in the rank of knight.
On the occasion of the 20th edition of the National Culture Week (SNC) Bobo 2023, the Burkinabe State has decided to pay tribute to brave sons and daughters who fight to promote Burkinabe culture. The first group is made up of people over 70, elevated to the rank of Living Human Treasures.
Minister of Communication, Culture, Arts and Tourism Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo
The second group includes professional and emblematic players in the world of culture, collaborators and partners of the SNC who have particularly distinguished themselves by their dedication and self-sacrifice at work.
The 23 recipients were all promoted in the Order of Merit of Arts, Letters and Communication, including one in the rank of officer and the 22 in the rank of knight. It was during a tribute ceremony chaired by the Minister of Communication, Culture, Arts and Tourism Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo.
“For decades, they have worked to preserve and promote Burkinabe and African culture. Through their commitment, these women and men have distinguished themselves as guardians and vectors for the promotion of our ancestral values over time and despite adversity,” said Minister Ouédraogo.
According to him, these decorations materialize the modest recognition of the State to the recipients for all the sacrifices they have made and still make for the Burkinabe Nation. He affirmed that the Living Human Treasures are the holders of ancestral knowledge and know-how.
The Living Human Treasure Titinga Frédéric Pacéré
“They are the guardians of our country’s cultural values in their community. And it is only fair to pay tribute to them today through the recognition of the Nation,” he noted.
Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo congratulated the recipients for the efforts they make every day to achieve our common objectives, namely “to make cultural diversity the ferment of national unity with a view to building a Burkina Faso of peace, regained security, dignity, integrity and prosperity”.
“These medals are also an invitation to greater commitment and abnegation with a view to safeguarding our cultural heritage. It is an invitation to always work for the preservation of our values and our identities”, he underlined.
The Living Human Treasure Konomba Traoré decorated by Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo
Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo invited the Living Human Treasures “to redouble their ardor in the transmission of their knowledge because it is this transmission which will guarantee the sustainability of this knowledge of which they are the holders”.
Through the voice of their spokesperson Me Frédéric Titinga Pacere, the recipients thanked the authorities for the consideration with the decorations and pledged to continue to serve the nation for the rest of their lives.
“Our country and all the countries of black Africa had a philosophy of governance that had nothing to do with politics. In the culture of all of black Africa, it is not a (political) body that rules the nation but it is the culture that rules the nation”, indicated Me Frédéric Titinga Pacédé.
The musician artist Issouf Compaoré is one of the recipients. “I have 50 years of career but as long as I live and breathe and I have the form I will continue to work. Besides, I’m in the studio to mix a new album that will be released soon, ”he said.
The Living Human Treasure Konomba Traoré has just received its third distinction. According to him, no country can develop without its culture. He invited Africans to overcome their inferiority complex vis-à-vis other peoples.
“We tend to believe that it’s what comes from outside that we have to adopt as a culture. We have our own ancestors here. They lived in realities that were different from those of our colonizing countries,” he said.
“Why did we leave our ancestors to worship other ancestors,” he wondered, replying that “it’s nonsense”. In his opinion, “everyone must adore his ancestors” and to continue that “our African culture is the worship of ancestors and fetishes”.
“Africa is the only continent which unfortunately does not have its own religion and which flounders in other religions, which is why we cannot develop,” he concluded.
Source: Burkina Information Agency