Tiken Jah Fakoly - Françafrique (2002)

«In the tradition of Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy, and his African griot caste, Tiken Jah Fakoly emerged in the late '90s as Africa's premier social critic through reggae. Born Doumbia Moussa Fakoly (June 23, 1968) into a family of musicians and oral historians known as griots, a role honored throughout Africa, Fakoly took an earnest interest in reggae as a boy growing up in the town of Odienné on the northern slope of the Ivory Coast. He formed his first group in 1987, giving them the name "Djelys," another word for the griots and minstrels. Taking on the mantel of a history keeper, Fakoly wrote lyrics that documented events of his times and the oppression of his people. He was quickly known regionally, and soon his music and reputation stretched across the nation and even beyond its borders. His song recounting the death of Félix Houphouët-Boigny elevated him to popularity among African youth. Soon expatriates introduced his music to African listeners abroad, particularly French audiences. In 1998 Fakoly performed in Paris, his first international venture. His early discography, including Les Djelys (1993), Missiri (1994), Mandercratie (1996), Cours d'Histoire (1999), and Le Chaméléon (2000) were originally produced exclusively for African distribution. Later recordings such as Françafrique (2002) and Coup de Gueule (2004), which were recorded at the famed Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica, became best-sellers in France. Fakoly racked up an impressive 100,000 records sold to French audiences, making him Africa's best-selling reggae artist. His 2007 album The African won him a place in the Top 20 on World Music Charts Europe, a position he held for months.» (AMG)

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Putumayo Presents: Women of Africa (2004)

«While the African music scene is currently dominated largely by men, there has never been any stigma to speak of against women performing (with the possible exception of some of the North African Islamic nations). The catch is that women tended historically to spend less time playing instruments in favor of other portions of the rituals and work, and stayed primarily within the vocal field as a result. Putumayo is taking advantage of this to combine three of their favourite forms of compilation: African music, women's music, and vocal music. The range here covers essentially the whole of Africa, with representatives from each of the major areas. South African Judith Sephuma opens the album with a contemporary piece, followed by Benin's great Angélique Kidjo with something based on Brazilian idioms. Following the Portuguese influence a step further (or closer, as the case may be), Maria de Barros performs a bit of morna from Cape Verde before the album makes a return to South Africa with Sibongile Khumalo. A quick run to the east allows for a nice Malagasy work from Tarika, and a jump north to Cameroon precedes the third South African piece, this time a bit of classic jazz from Dorothy Masuka. Firmly moving away from the South African sphere of influence, a wonderful piece from the often-excluded Comoros is included, preceding Ivorian Dobet Gnahore with a chipper work. A beautiful ballad from Souad Massi's Island release takes up the North African end, followed by an acoustic guitar-based rhythm from Burundi's Khadja Nin. Closing the album is a bit of female isicathamiya, courtesy of the Women of Mambazo, led by Joseph Shabalala's wife prior to her murder. Overall, it's quite a good album, with nice coverage of the various regions and the use of some underexposed but noteworthy artists. The only possible complaint would be that it's a bit heavy on South African music.» (AMG)

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African Rebel Music: Roots, Reggae and Dancehall (2006)

«Presenting hits from 10 countries African Rebel Music – Roots reggae and dancehall gives a first insight into the new reggae dancehall movement in Africa (24 page booklet). So far only two reggae artist have had real international success: Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy. A new generation has long arrived but although many of them are stars at home and regulars in their local charts, this compilation is the first chance for most of them to release their music internationally. The East African Reggae Bashment Crew is a cooperation of two famous line-ups from East Africa: the duo Necessary Noize from Kenya and Bebe Cool from Uganda. They were nominated for one of the most important African music awards the Kora Awards in South Africa end of 2005 in the category Best African Reggae Group. Another highlight is Tiken Jah Fakoly from Ivory Coast who is no doubt the next reggae star to emerge from Africa. In 2005 he became the most successful reggae artist in France. The 994 Crew recorded the first dancehall track ever from Mauretania. […] Ethiopia pitches in the song ‘Shashamane on my mind’ in which Sydney Salmon praises a piece of land that was once given to the Africans in the Diaspora by Haile Selassie as a place for repatriation. Batman is one of the most popular dancehall artists from Ghana adding the newest style of music now rocking the nightclubs of Accra: raglife. Musicians like Dully Sykes, H2O, The Danfo Drivers, Peter Miles, Teba or Rebellion are the heroes of a new generation of African pop music, that has long surpassed the usual world music stars still being celebrated in Europe. The language is reggae and dancehall. The sound and lyrics of their music represent the feeling of an urban Africa in the 21st century.» (Out Here Records)

«African reggae has always been a hit-or-miss affair. While there have long been reggae artists working the local music scenes of South Africa, Mauritania, and Uganda, the continent has produced only two real international stars: Alpha Blondy (from Ivory Coast) and, even bigger, Lucky Dube (from South Africa). This compilation of tracks presents a wide variety of artists from such disparate locales as Mauritania, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal, and it raises hopes for the future of African reggae while still revealing a pretty uneven musical landscape. On the evidence here, it appears that the most exciting developments are taking place in Nigeria: there's a subtle complexity to Mad Melon and Mt. Black's "Sinsemilia" that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a song by that title, and Bantu brings a nice hip-hop flavor to "One Vive One Flow, Pt. 2." In fact, there's quite a bit of hip-hop-reggae fusion going on here, as well as some fine Afrobeat/dancehall (courtesy of Peter Miles and Leo Muntu). There's also the odd sprinkling of political banality (Alif's "Wooyo") and musical banality (H2O's "African"), but overall this is an exciting and encouraging compilation. Recommended.» (AMG)

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Alpha Blondy & The Solar System - Yitzhak Rabin (1998)

«In the latter half of the 1980s Alpha Blondy put African reggae on the world music map. He has been described approvingly by one writer as “Outspoken, multicultural, and definitely off the wall” (Chuck Foster, Roots Rock Reggae, 1999, p. 135). Another writer has identified some of the reasons for his international success, noting that “As the first African reggae artist to attract an international audience, he has brought a unique sensibility to the genre. Never an orthodox Rasta, he has stayed true to the vision of reggae as liberation music and spiritual celebration; yet he has comfortably adapted the idiom to his own world view and fitted the lyrics to address the issues of Africans.” (Susan Cummings Maroni, The Beat vol. 19#2, 2000, p. 49)

Alpha Blondy was born Kone Seydou in a multicultural village in the centre of the Ivory Coast. He has said of Dimbokro that it is “a small village where all the big politicians went to school. There is a Catholic missionary school that we all attended […] and then during vacations they sent me to Koranic school. In Dimbokro we are so mixed. So do not judge somebody by his Muslim name […] he may go to church, he may drink wine [...] Christian make baby with Muslim [...] The Imam of the biggest mosque in the Ivory Coast [has a Catholic wife].” (Maroni, p. 50). This exposure to religious diversity and tolerance influenced his universal outlook. […] It is not only religious but also national identity that is challenged by Blondy's perspective. He has said that “I don't believe in geography [...] whether I am in America, or Paris, or Abidjan [...] I am living in the big Israel, because creation began in Israel.” (ibid., p.73).

Alpha Blondy's hybrid music expresses the diverse aspects of his unique identity. Singing in Dioula, French, English, Hebrew and Arabic, he has also said that his “secret aim” is “to give the two-coated dimension to the cake: reggae and rock. That's the culture I have in my head.” (Foster, p. 134). Explaining the context of his artistic and cultural development he has said that “This African generation is more rock and roll than African [...[ People ask me, 'Why as an African, don't you play African music?' They don't ask Guns n' Roses to play country music! This African music they relate to is a lot of tom-toms and Tarzan yodels. I call this touristic; this is not the reality today. [...] This pure, wild young African cannibal is over. The coconut tree is over. Now, no matter where you come from, there's got to be a school, a radio. [...[ We're part of that dream, that universal big American dream. [...] So people ask why don't you sing like Salif Keita? I say, 'I wish I could! But I grew up listening to Mick Jagger. He doesn't sing African music. But the one he plays, we love it!' (Foster, pp. 132-3)

The step from rock to reggae came easily. Foster has noted that Alpha Blondy “saw reggae as a natural extension of '60s music. 'The Rastas, [Blondy] says, 'are really black hippies.” (ibid., p. 134). Yet if Rastafari came naturally to Alpha Blondy, it so perturbed his parents that they had him committed to a psychiatric hospital for two years, and in 1976 they sent him to Columbia University in New York to study to be an English teacher. There he became friends with Clive Hunt, the Jamaican musician and producer who would later produce "Elohim". Blondy credits Hunt for encouraging him to sing in African languages. Blondy's studies were interrupted by inadequate finances and by illness and in 1978 he returned to the Ivory Coast where he released his first single, "Briagadier Sabari". This was followed by an appearance on national TV, and this led to "Jah Glory", his first full length recording. His popularity grew rapidly in the region and in the mid 80s he was playing to packed football stadiums in Ghana. The international release and distribution of his music, together with performances across the globe, introduced him to the world market, and he regularly performs to capacity audiences. His collaborations with The Wailers (on the albums "Jerusalem", "Cocody Rock" and "Yitzak Rabin", as well as his use of The I-Threes, Bob Marley's backing singers on "Yitzak Rabin"), is particularly appropriate. After all it was Bob Marley and The Wailers who were marketed as a rock group by Chris Blackwell of Island Records, and this led to them becoming the first Jamaicans to make a major impact on the global musical scene. With Blondy recording in Jamaica (at Marley's Tuff Gong Studio) reggae has come full circle. […] But don't expect a one-way pilgrimage on his part. For "Yitzak Rabin" and "Elohim" he brought some of the above-mentioned musicians to Africa to record at his own 24 track recording studio in Abidjan. […] “Instead of me going to Jamaica, we wanted Jamaica to come to Africa. I wanted the musicians to learn the real Africa, not the stereotype.” (Maroni, p. 49)

But if aspects of his identity appear confused and bohemian, at least to those who do not identify with his universalist message, Blondy is also capable of providing very direct socio-political commentary. […] He is also not shy to give praise where he believes it is due – "Yitzak Rabin" was homage to an assasinated politician that Blondy viewed as a peacemaker.

Alpha Blondy's unique synthesis of music and culture has struck a chord across the globe. World music is all the richer for it. (People.africadatabase.org)

French bio: http://www.kima-arts.com/modules.php?name=Alpha_Blondy

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Putumayo Presents: Acoustic Africa (2006)

«While the market for African music is heavy with new forms of Afro-pop, synth-driven reggae, and piles of high-energy soukous, there is a movement afoot for music in the more restrained end of the spectrum. Acoustic Africa takes a stab at compiling some of the newer sounds of this movement, à la MTV Unplugged. There are a few names on the album with massive recognition value: Angélique Kidjo presents a song to be released on a future album of her own, Habib Koité has his old hit "Baro," and Djelimady Tounkara (from the Super Rail Band, among others) contributes a recent piece for the guitar. Moving away from West Africa, South Africa's old master Vusi Mahlasela contributes a nice work for the guitar as well. Aside from these better-known artists, though, the real joy of this album comes from the unheard of, or at least less heard of. Senegal's Diogal has a gentle touch on the guitar, as does Madagascar's Rajery on the valiha (with a mangled hand and a technical style similar to Django Reinhardt's old playing technique). While Lokua Kanza has had a bit of fame outside of the Congo, Faya Tess is somewhat less known outside of Africa – on this album they combine for an uncharacteristically (for her, at least) somber piece. Laye Sow's gentle approach to protest music and a pair of works from the Cape Verdean repertoire fill out a relatively diverse set quite well. While North and East Africa, and indeed most of the central and southern portions, are underrepresented, the album covers the acoustic movement well, and touches upon the acoustic tips of more electronically based styles as well. The music is top-notch without exception, and the performers make a nice grab bag of exploration for the intrepid listener.» (AMG)

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