Alpha Blondy & the Solar System

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Alpha Blondy & the Solar System ALPHA BLONDY & THE SOLAR SYSTEM Primogenito di nove figli, Seydou Konè nacque a Dimbokro nel 1953. Seydou Kone fondò già da ragazzo il suo primo gruppo musicale: l’Atomic Vibration. Dopo il suo trasferimento in Liberia cantò prevalentemente in inglese. Nel 1976 si trasferì negli Stati Uniti d’America dove studiò economia e commercio ed inglese alla New Yorker Columbia University. Egli fece la sua prima esibizione a New York con il gruppo reggae Monyaka. Successivamente, alla fine degli anni settanta egli produsse con un giamaicano sei titoli, ma quest’ultimo scomparve con i suoi nastri e Seydou ebbe un esaurimento nervoso. Dopo il suo ritorno ad Abidjan nel 1981 venne internato dai suoi genitori in un istituto di igiene mentale per due anni. Nel 1983 incise insieme ad alcuni musicisti del Ghana il suo primo album, "Jah Glory”, grazie al quale vinse tre dischi d’oro. Nel 1985 si esibì per la prima volta in Europa. La sua musica può essere definita appartenente al genere Afro-Reggae, con evidenti influenze africane, europee e caraibiche. I suoi nuovi lavori si orientano verso un genere Roots-Reggae. L’album “Jerusalem” , del 1986, rappresenta una pietra miliare della sua carriera musicale, prodotto con il gruppo The Wailers da Tuff Gong (Bob Marleys Studios). Alpha Blondy canta i suoi testi in ebraico, inglese, francese, arabo e in alcuni dialetti dell’Africa Occidentale (come ad esempio il baolè ed il dioula). La sua produzione di musica resta sempre intensa e fa uscire molti album come “Apharteid Is nazism”nel 1987, “The Prophets” nel 1989, “Merci” nel 2002, “Vision” nel 2011, “Mystic Power” nel 2013 e “Positive Energy” nel 2015. Il suo ultimo album è uscito nel 2018 ed è “Human Race”, un album fortemente politico che propone testi in francese, inglese e in dioula (lingua che si parla in Costa d’Avorio). In questo album Alpha Blondy interpreta, in chiave reggae, successi musicali come ‘Whole Lotta Love’ dei Led Zeppelin e ‘Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais’ di Serge Gainsbourg. L’artista si distingue per il suo impegno religioso ed umanitario e promuove l'unità dei tre monoteismi: ebraismo, cristianesimo ed islam. Durante i suoi tour porta con sé la stella di Davide, una Bibbia e il Corano. !f @Alpha Blondy Officiel !y @Alpha Blondy !c @alphablondy.official !> [email protected] .
Recommended publications
  • Assessing Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy
    humanities Article Political Messages in African Music: Assessing Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy Uche Onyebadi Department of Journalism, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA; [email protected] Received: 30 September 2018; Accepted: 30 November 2018; Published: 6 December 2018 Abstract: Political communication inquiry principally investigates institutions such as governments and congress, and processes such as elections and political advertising. This study takes a largely unexplored route: An assessment of political messages embedded in music, with a focus on the artistic works of three male African music icons—Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (Nigeria), Lucky Dube (South Africa), and Alpha Blondy (Côte d’Ivoire). Methodologically, a purposive sample of the lyrics of songs by the musicians was textually analyzed to identify the themes and nuances in their political messaging. Framing was the theoretical underpinning. This study determined that all three musicians were vocal against corruption, citizen marginalization, and a cessation of wars and bloodshed in the continent. Keywords: Political communication; African politics; African music; Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; Alpha Blondy; Lucky Dube; textual analysis 1. Introduction Music permeates significant aspects of African society, culture, and tradition. Adebayo(2017, p. 56) opined that “to the African, music is not just a pastime, it is a ritual” that describes the true essence and humaneness in being of African origin. Cudjoe(1953, p. 280) description of the place of music among the Ewe people in Ghana typifies this African musical heritage. He observed that “music has an important place in the social life of the Ewe people. There is no activity which does not have music appropriate to it: weaver, farmer and fisherman each sings in perfect time to the rhythmic movement of (one’s) craft ..
    [Show full text]
  • JAH LIGHT « Almighty Zion Keepers » Facebook .Com/Lightjah Facebook .Com/Azkprods.ABIDJAN Instagram .Com/Azkproductionsabidjan Who Can Save Ft
    JAH LIGHT « Almighty Zion Keepers » facebook .com/lightjah facebook .com/AZKprods.ABIDJAN instagram .com/azkproductionsabidjan Who Can Save Ft. Don Carlos (single) ALBUM RELEASE : April 9, 2021 REGGAE / WORLD / AFRICA Jah Light, Basile Valentin Okon, was born on September 2, 1981 in Cocody, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. His father was a school Director and his mother a sales agent. He grew up with his ten brothers and sisters in the town of the Two Plateaux where he spent his childhood and his school years. He is rapidly taken by the music virus and spends his free time in the backstage of ‘informal’ recording music studios that are growing in many townships of Abidjan. He integrates different local reggae musical bands and began singing with the band « Reggae Jam » in 2001. The band performed regularly in the various Reggae spots of the city (Pams, Jamaica, Kingston, Menekre). He was barely 20 years old when he decided to stop studying at INSAAC (the Ivorian National Arts and Music Institute ) and immerses himself in the reggae culture, preferring to spend days and nights with elders musicians. Jah Light then embarks on a Bohemian life specific to aspiring artists. He will hit the road touring in the sub-region, notably in Burkina Faso and Benin. Jah Light is making a name for himself. He makes a first collaboration with the #1 Reggae singer from Ivory Coast Alpha Blondy on the 2011 « Vision » album with the International Herb title and also a collaboration with the Ivorian Reggae Band Les Vieux Mogos - the most international Band of Abidjan - with the track I’m Dread.
    [Show full text]
  • World Music and Activism Since the End of History [Sic]
    World Music and Activism Since the End of History [sic] PETER MANUEL “A thousand militant voices will sing a freedom song The people united will never be defeated…” So proclaimed these verses of “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,” which, together with a host of nueva canción anthems, sustained the spirits of millions of Latin American progressives through the dark days of Cold War US-supported military dictatorships. But what happens when freedom is finally obtained? When the socialist ideal is discredited? When the economic hegemon is no longer an easily identified antagonist—the imperialist USA—but the intangible workings of an amorphous global financial network? Does the socially conscious music then stop? Is there anything for the thousand voices to sing of, besides love, dancing, and sex? Or, for that matter, nihilistic rage? However one might answer these questions, the third quarter of the twentieth century stands out as a historical moment in which progressive, activist songs occupied lively niches in popular music cultures throughout much of the world, serving as soundscapes for set of socio-political movements that, although diverse, shared a commitment to universalist values ultimately deriving from the Enlightenment. But whether in Jamaica, Pakistan, Spain, or Latin America, these musical movements have largely evaporated. What happened? In recent decades, historians have written extensively about what appears to be a dramatic and tangible change in global socio-political culture since the 1980s. This transformation has been interpreted from diverse perspectives, and with varying degrees of optimism or pessimism. In Francis Fukuyama’s paradigmatic, seminal, and much-debated formulation1, it is the triumph of capitalism and liberal democracy, the exhaustion of structural political and economic alternatives, and, hence, the effective “end of history.” For some cultural theorists, it is a postmodern condition marked by new aesthetic and epistemological sensibilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Politics and Popular Culture: the Renaissance in Liberian Music, 1970-89
    POLITICS AND POPULAR CULTURE: THE RENAISSANCE IN LIBERIAN MUSIC, 1970-89 By TIMOTHY D. NEVIN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FUFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2010 1 © 2010 Timothy Nevin 2 To all the Liberian musicians who died during the war-- (Tecumsey Roberts, Robert Toe, Morris Dorley and many others) Rest in Peace 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my parents and my uncle Frank for encouraging me to pursue graduate studies. My father’s dedication to intellectual pursuits and his life-long love of teaching have been constant inspirations to me. I would like to thank my Liberian wife, Debra Doeway for her patience in attempting to answer my thousand and one questions about Liberian social life and the time period “before the war.” I would like to thank Dr. Luise White, my dissertation advisor, for her guidance and intellectual rigor as well as Dr. Sue O’Brien for reading my manuscript and offering helpful suggestions. I would like to thank others who also read portions of my rough draft including Marissa Moorman. I would like to thank University of Florida’s Africana librarians Dan Reboussin and Peter Malanchuk for their kind assistance and instruction during my first semester of graduate school. I would like to acknowledge the many university libraries and public archives that welcomed me during my cross-country research adventure during the summer of 2007. These include, but are not limited to; Verlon Stone and the Liberian Collections Project at Indiana University, John Collins and the University of Ghana at East Legon, Northwestern University, Emory University, Brown University, New York University, the National Archives of Liberia, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Tony Chin Earl Zero Derrick Lara Papa Michigan Johnny Dread Anthony John Fully Fulwood Mellow Movement Iriemag.Com
    DEC 2015 CA 01.04 T R A X ROOTS / ROCK / REGGAE / RESPECT featuring HOUSE OF SHEM ARMY RAS D Z-MAN TONY CHIN EARL ZERO DERRICK LARA PAPA MICHIGAN JOHNNY DREAD ANTHONY JOHN FULLY FULWOOD MELLOW MOVEMENT IRIEMAG.COM CA ISSUE #01.04 / DECEMBER 2015 “ If you haven’t confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started.” - Marcus Garvey Nicholas ‘Nico’ Da Silva Founder/Publisher & Editor in Chief IRIEMAG.COM MERCH. The Official ‘Rockers’ Tee from Irie Magazine Available in T-Shirts & Hoodies for Men/Women Two styles to choose from: Jamaica or Ethiopia IRIEMAG.COM House of Shem Derrick Lara Papa Michigan Ras D New Zealand Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica Army Fully Fulwood Tony Chin Johnny Dread U.S. Virgin Islands Jamaica Jamaica United States Earl Zero Anthony John Mellow Movement Z-Man United States Jamaica United States United States NZL HOUSE OF SHEM IRIEMAG.COM REGGAE HOUSE OF SHEM House Of Shem is an Aotearoa (New Zealand) based harmony trio comprised of Carl Perkins and his FOLLOW two sons, Te Omeka Perkins and Isaiah Perkins, who are each multi-instrumentalist and producers. House of Shem Formed 2005 in the rural area of Whanganui, the band embodies elements of roots reggae, pacific reggae and traditional maori music with relatable song-writing that connects powerfully with not only New Zealand and Australia audiences, but reggae listeners globally attracting fans from all Featured Album areas of the world. Since bursting onto the music scene with their debut album ‘Keep Rising’ in 2008, House of Shem has released three very successful Albums and built a rapidly growing loyal fan base.
    [Show full text]
  • MANCRIS LOVAÏLE Genre : REGGAE & SOUL « Vers L’Intérieur »
    MANCRIS LOVAÏLE Genre : REGGAE & SOUL « Vers l’Intérieur » https://www.facebook.com/themancris ManCris Lovaïlé, auteur, compositeur, interprète, paré d’une volonté farouche de défendre le Reggae et son impact positif, chante depuis ses jeunes années. Fan de Bob Marley, Third World, Mighty Diamonds, de music Soul, à l’affût de toutes sortes de sonorités, il commence la programmation à l’âge de 16 ans sur un D-20 Roland, puis se spécialise dans le Reggae Roots. Après de multiples expériences, de Combos Rap- Ragga en Groupes Soul-Reggae, de Dubplates en Guitares-Voix, il crée en 2010 le groupe I-Trinity- I avec JustOne et Ange, transfuges de K2R Riddim. Il sera l’une des voix de cette formation musicale pendant cinq ans durant lesquels ils sortiront un EP 4 titres « ÇA R’COMMENCE » et un album « REGGAEALITY » sous la direction artistique de Tyrone Downie et mixés par Timour Cardenas. Ils feront notamment les premières parties de PierPolJak au festival Les lutins festifs, d’Omar Perry au festival Roots dans la vallée, de Tarrus Riley au festival Rockambolesk, des Gladiators au festival Roots’ergue, des Israël Vibration au Cabaret sauvage. En 2015, le groupe se dissout… ManCris Lovaïlé prend en main la réalisation de son album solo. Il ouvre les tiroirs dans lesquels reposent tout un tas de textes, de mélodies, de vibrations, et entre en état de création, de composition, d’écriture. Accompagné de son Logic Pro X, il reprend le mode lecture d’une histoire laissée en pause depuis son vieux D-20, enrichie par les partages et les collaborations et appelle son opus solo "Vers l'intérieur".
    [Show full text]
  • Who Is Allah?
    Who is Allah? Bruce B. Lawrence Duke University (ca. 4600 words) Table of Contents Introduction Chapter I – Allah invoked practice of tongue Chapter 2 – Allah defined practice of mind Chapter 3 – Allah remembered practice of heart Chapter 4 – Allah online practice of eye/ear Chapter 5 – Allah debated who gets to define, who gets to answer: Who is Allah? Conclusion Acknowledgments 1 3 April 2013 Introduction Timeline Islam is a religion of the 7th century. It remains vital, flexible, and potent in the 21st century. At its core are revelations given to an itinerant Arab merchant named Muhammad. The revelations begin by invoking the name of the Sender: Allah. Sidebar One: Dates for the Prophet Muhammad -- Born, 570 CE Married, 595 CE Called to prophesy, 610 CE Left Mecca for Medina, 622 CE Died, 632 CE Anecdote on Bismillah It was the summer of 1985, and the King of Morocco was celebrating his birthday. Crowds of ordinary Moroccans gathered in the historic city of Marrakesh. My wife and I were leading a student summer program in Morocco 2 and had been invited to participate. One evening we went to a huge soccer stadium. We wanted to see and hear the legendary reggae singer of West Africa, Alpha Blondy. We arrived at 9 PM. Three hours later, at midnight, Alpha Blondy had yet to appear. All were restive, some were annoyed, some – a very few – had already left. Then a murmur began. It grew and grew as the diminutive singer strode on stage, grabbed the microphone, and whispered into the now silent stadium: “Bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim, Barukh ata Adonai, Our Father who are in heaven.” In Arabic, Hebrew and English the names of God—Allah, Adonai, Father—tripped off his tongue and rippled across the stunned audience.
    [Show full text]
  • Chanting up Zion: Reggae As Productive Mechanism for Repatriated Rastafari In
    Chanting up Zion: Reggae as Productive Mechanism for Repatriated Rastafari in Ethiopia David Aarons A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2017 Reading Committee: Shannon Dudley, Chair Giulia Bonacci Katell Morand Christina Sunardi Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Music i @Copyright 2017 David Aarons ii University of Washington Abstract Chanting up Zion: Reggae as Productive Mechanism for Repatriated Rastafari in Ethiopia David Aarons Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Shannon Dudley Ethnomusicology Since the 1960s, Rastafari from Jamaica and other countries have been “returning” to Ethiopia in the belief that it is their Promised Land, Zion. Based on extensive ethnographic research in Ethiopia between 2015 and 2017, this project examines the ways in which repatriated Rastafari use music to transform their Promised Land into a reality amidst various challenges. Since they are denied legal citizenship, Rastafari deploy reggae in creative and strategic ways to gain cultural citizenship and recognition in Ethiopia. This research examines how reggae music operates as a productive mechanism, that is, how human actors use music to produce social and tangible phenomena in the world. Combining theories on music’s productive capabilities with Rastafari ideologies on word-sound, this research further seeks to provide deeper insight into the ways Rastafari effect change through performative arts. I examine how Rastafari mobilize particular discourses that both challenge and reproduce hegemonic systems, creating space for themselves in Ethiopia through music. Rastafari use reggae in strategic ways to insert themselves into the contested national narratives of Ethiopia, and participate in the practice of space-making in Addis Ababa and Shashemene through sound projects.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY The complete list of all sources consulted in the making of this book offers a comprehensive over- view of the literature and other materials available about reggae, Rastafari, Bob Marley, and other topics covered herein. Due to the fleeting nature of the Internet, where websites might change or dis- appear at any given time, online sources used at the time of writing might not be available any longer. The bibliography can also be found on the website of the book at www.reggaenationbook.com. Books History and Heritage (pp. 326-335). Routledge. Bennett, A. (2001). Cultures of Popular Music. Open University Press. Adejumobi, S. A. (2007). The History of Ethiopia. Biddle, I., & Knights, V. (Eds.) (2007). Music, National Greenwood Press. Identity and the Politics of Location: Between the Global Akindes, S. (2002). Playing It “Loud and Straight”. and the Local. Ashgate. Reggae, Zouglou, Mapouka, and Youth Bonacci, G. (2015). From Pan-Africanism to Rastafari: Insubordination in Côte d’Ivoire. In M. Palmberg African American and Caribbean ‘Returns’ & A. Kirkegaard (Eds.), Playing with Identities in to Ethiopia. In G. Prunier & E. Ficquet (Eds.), Contemporary Music in Africa (pp. 86-103). Nordic Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia: Monarchy, Africa Institute. Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi (pp. 147- Alleyne, M. (2009). Globalisation and Commercialisation 158). Hurst & Company. of Caribbean Music. In T. Pietila (Ed.), World Music Boot, A., & Salewicz, C. (1995). Bob Marley. Songs of Roots and Routes. Studies across Disciplines in the Freedom. Bloomsbury. Humanities and Social Sciences 6 (pp. 76-101). Helsinki Bordowitz, H. (2004). Every Little Thing Gonna Be Alright: Collegium for Advanced Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Alpha Blondy Jah Victory
    ALPHA BLONDY « JAH VICTORY » Reggae became a planetary music thanks to Bob Marley. But if this now universal style of music has become the voice of the voiceless, the CNN of ghettos worldwide and one of the main musics on the African continent, it’s also thanks to Alpha Blondy, messenger of reggae music in the Ivory Coast. Alpha has been in Jamaica to record his music since his very first album Cocody Rock !!! , released in 1984, partially produced by the famous jamaican beatmaker Clive Hunt. « It’s Clive, a Jamaican, who told me I should sing in african language and create my own style. We went to the Hope Road studio with The Wailers », Alpha remembers. « And in a nick of time, we made “Cocody Rock“. It was mixed the next day ». This time, Alpha chose the ex-Wailer Tyrone Downie and the « riddim twins » Sly & Robbie to work on his new album Jah Victory , the one that’s gonna be praised by his most demanding fans. The story of this record is the story of a certain idea of faith. Faith of Alpha Blondy for his music, his destiny, his God. « At every step of the way, God has appeared. We were in Paris mixing and after the recording was over in Jamaica, I felt like adding new songs. I told Tyrone “you know, if Sly & Robbie were here, they would do the rhythm“. Half an hour later, someone pops his head in the studio and Tyrone recognized him at once : “Hey Robbie ! What are you doing here ?“ He was giving a concert and he popped by the studio to pick up a bass guitar.
    [Show full text]
  • Du Discours De La Baule À L'éveil
    Du discours de la Baule à l’éveil « de la conscience démocratique en Afrique by Mawuena Dabla-Egui, 2017 CTI Fellow Harding University High School This curriculum unit is recommended for: French Level 4, level 5 IB DP and AP Keywords : IB language B ; French IB SL1; French IB SL2; French IB Hl1, French IB Hl2, AP French, démocratie, démocratisation en Afrique, identité nationale, Afrique Francophone, Francophonie, la langue et l’identité culturelle ; la dominance linguistique; les minorités; multilinguisme ; nationalisme ; patriotisme, fanatisme, multipartisme. Teaching Standards: See Appendix 1 for teaching standards addressed in this unit Synopsis: “Du discours de la Baule à l’éveil de la conscience démocratique en Afrique”, is a seven days’ curriculum unit that I am planning to teach to French Level 4 and 5 classes. In my unit, students will be able to learn about how democracy started in the majority of French speaking African countries, by first studying François Mitterrand’s La Baule speech, which served as a whistle signal for these countries to start the democratization process. They will also be able to research these countries to see the challenges they are facing, analyze them to understand whether or not they fit the criteria of what a real democracy should be, and come up with their own definition of democracy after deciding whether President Mitterrand’s ideal in the Baule speech was reached or not. To achieve this goal, students will focus their research on analysis of songs. These songs are from politically-engaged francophone African singers who are evoking the (mostly) poor governance of some Francophone African leaders, as well as commenting about dictatorship, how the people are suffering, the lack of freedom and freedom of speech etc.
    [Show full text]
  • Meta and the Cornerstones Born in Senegal, West Africa, Lead Singer Of
    Meta AND The Cornerstones Born in Senegal, West Africa, lead singer of Meta and The Cornerstones, Meta Dia, discovered his love for music and desire to be a musician at a very young age. Listening to Reggae greats Bob Marley and Gregory Isaacs helped nurture his admiration and true appreciation for all types of music. As a self-taught musician, by age 14 he was performing on the street and stages of his hometown Dakar, Senegal. In 2000, Meta formed his first band YALLA SUUREN (God Bless), which was nominated for Best Hip-Hop/Reggae Group by the French Cultural Center the same year. Within two years, Meta had become one of the premier pioneering voices of the Hip-Hop culture in West Africa. After relocating to the United States, Meta immediately began collaborating with artists such as Sean Blackman, and Hip-Hop Ambassador Toni Blackman. Shortly after settling in New York City, he formed his visionary band, Meta and The Cornerstones. With varying ethnicity, religion, and musical influences, Meta and The Cornerstones’ sound is a melting pot rooted in diversity, strength, and unity as they combine their creative differences from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean bringing togetherness, peace and understanding. Meta and The Cornerstones channels Roots Reggae while simultaneously breathing new life into the genre, thus creating what critics have called a “soul-pounding spiritual experience” during their live performances. Inspired by Alpha Blondy and Lucky Dubee, they have shared the stage with Reggae stars Luciano, Steel Pulse, Clinton Fearon, Israel Vibration, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Gentleman and Tanya Stephens amongst others.
    [Show full text]