Alpha Blondy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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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.
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 by the police. Some of this was based on personal experience, as Alpha himself had seen police violence. 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 even recorded a cover of Bob Marley's song 'War'. 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.
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.
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.
One of his most popular and successful songs was Sébé Allah Y'é.
Alpha Blondy canceled his 2008 American tour because of serious illness. In February 2008 he canceled the tour and was diagnosed by a doctor as suffering from severe pneumonia, chest pains and spots on his lungs amongst other medical findings. Alpha Blondy is currently back in France where his own doctors can treat his severe medical issues.
