Eeyah is our African grandmother in Burkina Faso, who lived to be over 100 years old. Before she passed, BARKA co-founder Ina had the honor and opportunity to sit down with Eeyah and talk through two translators. She had never agreed to a video interview before this. “Eeyah” is the Gour’mache word for grandmother. Eeyah was married to the King of the Gour’mache people in Gourma Province, eastern Burkina Faso. On January 26, 2011, this African Queen crossed over to the Other side, to be with the Ancestors. Upon receiving the news, the following song came through Ina:
“Eeyah, Eeyah, My heart is broken now that You are gone,
And then I remember that You’ve just moved on…
to a place,
where you can be with us all of the time.”
Please enjoy this excerpt from the feature-length documentary, “BARKA! BURKINA”.