Alpha Blondy

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Alpha Blondy
Birth name Seydou Koné
Born January 1, 1953 (1953-01-01) (age 55)

Ivoirian flag Dimbokoro, Côte d'Ivoire
Genre(s) Reggae
Occupation(s) Singer/Songwriter
Years active 1982–present
Website AlphaBlondy.info [1]

Alpha Blondy (born Seydou Koné on January 1, 1953 in Dimbokoro, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa), is an Ivoirian reggae singer and a major international recording artist. Alpha Blondy sings mainly in his native language of Dioula, in French and English, and also sometimes in Arabic or Hebrew. His lyrics convey strong political attitudes and a fine sense of humor. In particular, he coined the French term democrature (an English equivalent might be "democratatorship") to identify some African governments.

Contents

[edit] Early years

[edit] Childhood

First son of a family of nine children, Seydou Kone was born in Dimbokro in 1953. Raised by his grandmother, growing up in what he described as "among elders", which – later – was to have a big impact on his career. In 1962, Alpha Blondy went to join his father in Odienne, where he spent ten years, attending the Sainte Elisabeth high school, and getting involved in the Ivory Coast students movement. Here he formed a band. However, this hobby affected his schooling and Alpha Blondy was expelled from school due to poor attendance. His parents then sent him to study English in Monrovia a major city in the neighboring country of Liberia in 1973. He spent thirteen months there and then moved to the United States of America to improve his English further. [1]

[edit] First stay in the USA

In 1973 Seydou moved to New York (and briefly Texas), where he attended college and majored in English, because he wanted to become an English teacher. He had to work very hard part-time, and sometimes at night, to survive and became ill. In New York he met Rastafarians for the first time, and was also able to see concerts by Jamaican artists such as Burning Spear. At this time he was recording Christian music but never stopped writing his own songs. Eventually he got into various scrapes in New York and returned to the Ivory Coast, where he got into even more trouble until he met up with one of his childhood friends, Fulgence Kassi, who had become a famous television producer. This was the beginning of his real career as a singer, using the name 'Alpha Blondy'. [2]

[edit] Musical career

After various TV shows for Kassi, Blondy recorded his first solo album in 1982, entitled 'Jah Glory'. This album was to have enormous success and would become later a symbol of resistance because of the song 'Brigadier Sabari', where Alpha criticized the harassment of the police. Some of this was based on personal experience as Alpha had seen police violence himself. Alpha Blondy became a big star in Abidjan with his own African twist of Reggae music, becoming in the eyes of his fans 'the Bob Marley of Africa'. Alpha Blondy is spiritual, political and positive just like Marley himself. And he doesn't stop progressing; in order to reach more people with his message, he chose to sing in many languages: English, French, Baoule, and his own native language – Dioula. Later he also brought new instrumentation to his brand of reggae such as the violin and cello.

Soon the fame of Alpha Blondy spread to Europe. Following the success of an EP entitled “Rasta Pou” he went to Paris in 1984 to make his second album, 'Cocody Rock' with the label Pathe Marconi. The 'Bob Marley of Africa' traveled to the Island of Jamaica and recorded the title track of this album with Marley’s backing group: The Wailers.

Back home in 1985, Alpha went into the studio to record 'Apartheid is Nazism'. This album was more politically committed than ever. It is a call for the end of Apartheid and the freedom for all. In 1986 Blondy recorded “Jerusalem” at the legendary Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica, again with The Wailers featuring Bob Marley's legendary Bass Aston "Family Man" Barrett. Blondy tried to promote unity between the religion of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. He drew his arguments and inspiration from his own diverse knowledge of the Bible, the Quran and the Torah. That same year, Blondy sang in Hebrew during a concert in Morocco. At this point he was touring continuously. His new album 'Revolution' had a lighter, gentler sound; this was the album with cellos in the instrumentation, and the line-up included veteran Ivory Coast singer Aicha Kone. The album also included "Jah Houphouët parle", a long speech by the Ivory Coast president with only the most minimal beat behind it.

Blondy spent the years 1987–1989 giving concerts and recording 'SOS Guerre Tribale' in Abidjan. This was promoted by Blondy himself as he was distancing himself from Pathe Marconi at this stage. This was not to be a real success but this wasn't going to stop Blondy and in 1991 he returned to Europe for a concert tour and to record his famous album: 'Masada' with the help of musical legends such as Bocana Maiga and UK reggae producer Denis Bovell. The album, with its hit single 'Rendez Vous' was a huge success, and later, Blondy was to receive his first Gold Disc in Paris.

At the beginning of 1993, worn out from a world tour, Blondy succumbed to depression and was taken into an institution for psychiatric help. But as his health recovered he recorded the album 'Dieu' ('God'), where he appears more spiritual and religious, on tracks such as 'Heal Me', about his illness and recovery.

Blondy's psychiatric treatment continued but, on 10 December 1994, Blondy was back with the festival in memory of the late President Houphouet, and later he made his European comeback at a storming concert at Le Zenith in Paris. In 1996, Blondy released a hits compilation and went back into the studio to record the album 'Grand Bassam Zion', singing in six languages; Malinke, Arabic, French, English, Ashanti and Wolof.

After two more years in Paris, Blondy returned to his homeland in 1998, with a new album 'The Prophet'. Convinced his label was too much focused on the international market, he decided to create his own label. Since then Alpha has recorded albums and singles, such as: 'Yitzhak Rabin' in memory of the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated in 1995 (this was accompanied by yet another grueling tour of Europe), the single 'Journaliste en Danger' from his album 'Elohim' in 2000. [3]

Alpha Blondy celebrated 20 years as a recording artist, with the release of his CD "MERCI", in 2002 featuring Ophelie Winter and Saian Supa Crew, which earned him a 2003 Grammy Awards Nomination for "BEST REGGAE ALBUM". However due to the political situation in his home country of Côte D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), he was unable to personally attend the prestigious award ceremony in New York City. In an unprecedented move, the Grammy Awards permitted him to send his representative in his place of honor. [4] In 2005 'Akwaba' was released. His latest CD is entitled "Jah Victory" and was released July 2007. It features Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare as well as Tyrone Downie formerly of Bob Marley and the Wailers. "Victory" is in honor of the peace agreement that was reached and implemented in his country in March of 2007. [5]

One of his most popular and successful songs was Sébé Allah Y'é.

[edit] His Faith

Grammy nominated Alpha Blondy was born to a Muslim mother and a Christian father and was brought up by a grandmother who taught him to love everyone. Alpha Blondy's respect for all religions and the spirituality he derives from them can be heard on tracks like “God is One” or “Jerusalem” where he sang for unity between all religions in 1986.

[edit] Alpha Blondy as activist

Alpha Blondy has always been a critic of authority. He calls himself a defender of free speech and since his breakthrough with “Brigadier Sabari” has fought against injustice as well as racism, harassment and corruption. In the year 2000 Alpha denounced the mismanagement of government funds for private gain in the album “les voleurs de la république” (thieves of the republic). Despite the risk, he had the courage to denounce also the mysterious murder of the burkinabè journalist Norbert Zongo. But it was in 1998 that Alpha recorded his most controversial and criticised album: “Yitzhak Rabin”. He also wrote a song calling for the departure of the French military arguing that the Ivory Coast and other former French colonies did not need their services anymore, and the track “guerre civile“ predicted civil war if the politicians did not stop their corruption. [6] [7]

[edit] His Humanitarian Works

Alpha Blondy (Seydou Kone) was named United Nations Ambassador of Peace for Côte D'Ivoire in 2005. He made great efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to his country's political and physical division which was a result of an attempted Coup in 2001. As of March 2007 a peace agreement was signed and implemented, due to the hard work of many people including Alpha Blondy. Alpha now reaches out further with the newly created Not-for-Profit, Non Government, Non Political, Charitable Foundation, Alpha Blondy Jah Glory Foundation, which purposely and deliberately work towards ending social injustice and generational poverty by giving people the tools that they need to help themselves. He strongly believes in helping the poor (Jah Glory), and also that it should not hurt to a child. The Foundation strives to create and implement grassroots programs at the village level such as the Women’s Self-Sufficiency Micro Loan Program, to teach women who are caring for multiple orphans how to start and manage their own business, to better provide for their families, as well as other sustainable projects, such as the Tafari-Genesis Retreat Camp for Children (Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso). It especially hopes to bring joy and hope to children who have been affected by civil wars, Former Child Soldiers, and those who suffer from chronic life threatening illnesses, such as sickle cell anemia, malaria, asthma, etc.

Talking about Alpha Blondy, people think usually of music and indeed since 1980 he has written at least 17 albums and 194 titles. This itself indicates the great value he represents for his fans. Alpha is no longer an Ivorian star but an International Mega Star because of his fight for peace and unity all around the world. One example was his single “Who Are You” with Ophelie Winter against antipersonnel mines. He has also participated at many humanitarian and charity concerts, such as the concert in Senegal in March 2006 for the eradication of Malaria in Africa (where he appeared along with many other celebrities). He has done much, much more of this type of work in the Ivory Coast itself, especially at his annual free concert at Bassam beach called “festa”.

[edit] Best known songs

His first success was Brigadier Sabare. Some representative songs are:

  • Jah Glory - which he sings against poverty
  • Apartheid is Nazism
  • Brigadier Sabare - satirical lyrics about police brutality.
  • Cocody Rock - has become like an Alpha Blondy anthem, which everyone knows and sings
  • Guerre Civile - about civil war
  • Jerusalem- a call for peace in Israel. The lyrics begins with a Hebrew prayer in Hebrew
  • Journalistes en danger - about the assassination of Norbert Zongo
  • Politiqui - about civilian / military government alternance
  • Yitzhak Rabin

Blondy features on a track on the 2005 Magic System album Petit Pompier.

[edit] Discography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Interview with Montreal Mirror September 2003
  2. ^ Alpha Blondy Life, (2005). Alpha Blondy Info. Retrieved March 27, 2005, from http:www.alphablondy.info/index.php
  3. ^ Alpha Blondy Music. Alpha Blondy’s Info. Retrieved March 27, 2005, from http:www.alphablondy.info/article.php?=58
  4. ^ The Living Legend. Retrieved June 2007' from http://www.alphablondyjahgloryfoundation.org/livinglegend
  5. ^ princessalphablondyjahgloryfoundation.org
  6. ^ Sahel University, (2006). Alpha Blondy’s Actions.
  7. ^ PCCI Center, (2006). Alpha Blondy’s Engagements.
  • Interview with Montreal Mirror September 2003
  • Official website[2]
  • Official Forum,(2007). Alpha Blondy Official Forum Opened November 21, 2007
  • Sahel University, (2006). Alpha Blondy’s Actions.
  • Alpha Blondy Grammy Awards nomination; retrieved June 2007 from [3]
  • PCCI Center, (2006). Alpha Blondy’s Engagements.
  • Alpha Blondy Music, (2005). Alpha Blondy’s Info. Retrieved March 27, 2005