Ernesto Djédjé

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Ernesto Djédjé (1948 - 1983) is an Ivorian musician from Daloa. His parents were Wolof and Bété. Djédjé began playing music at fifteen when he became a guitarist with Ivoiro Star, a leading dopé band, in 1962. He moved to Paris in 1968 and became a student. He continued to perform and made his first recording with Anoma Barou Felix in 1970 with the help of Manu Dibango.

In 1972, he returned to his homeland to lead the San Pedro Orchestra. He later formed a band called Les Ziglibithiens and pioneered a musical style called ziglibithy based on a kind of Bété roots music combined with Congolese rhythms]]. He recorded his first solo album in 1977, calling it Ziboté with producer Gbadamassi Raïmi. Another album, Le Roi du Ziglibithy, was also released that year. In the early 1980s he released the single Taxi Sognon, which became a major hit across West Africa. Ivoirian president Houphouet Boigny honored him for his contributions to national culture in 1982. Djédjé died suddenly of an untreated ulcer in 1983 at 35.