It's All About The Music
Alpha Blondy
By Ms. P
Reggae, the spiritual and sometimes sharply political dance music that Jamaica exported to the rest of the world, has often carried a message of peace and universal understanding. One contemporary star who successfully put such ideas into musical practice is Alpha Blondy aka Seydou Kone born, in Dimbokora a native of Ivory Coast on western Africa's southern-facing Atlantic shore.
With a multicultural message delivered in diverse languages that include French, English, Arabic, Hebrew, and his native tongue of Dioula, this "Rasta," has even succeeded in calming a set of military hostilities in West Africa."In Africa the new generation, my generation, is a mixture of Western and African culture," Blondy told the UK Times. "Reggae has succeeded in musical unification. It's a good therapy to bring people together." In the 1980s, Blondy seemed to b Ivory Coasts heir apparent to reggae superstar Bob Marley; his popularity after that receded along with that of reggae music in general, but his fame remained international in scope.
Many musicians have had to overcome obstacles in order to realize their artistic visions, but the personal trials Blondy experienced on the way to a musical career were clearly unprecedented in their magnitude. A member of the Dioula ethnic group, Blondy was raised by his grandmother in the predominant Islamic faith of his people but also learned French by reading the Bible.
Already a fan of reggae and of progressive rock acts such as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix, Blondy demonstrated enough talent as a student to win admission to Hunter College and Columbia University, both competitive institutions, when he came to the United States in the early 1970s. He moved in with a Jamaican classmate and appeared to be on the road to a successful teaching career, unfortunately it was about this time things started to go drastically wrong.
By all accounts, Blondy became addicted to the drug angel dust, and he began to spend much of his time busking in Central Park, accompanying himself with a drum. Blondy was finally arrested and institutionalized at New York's Bellevue Hospital. Released after a year, he ran into even worse problems when he returned home to Ivory Coast.His parents, confronted with his dreadlocks and total destitution, believed he had completely lost his senses and institutionalized him once again. Blondy endured a brutal two years of forced medication at an asylum in the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan, but he continued to write songs. After his release his fortunes finally began to improve. Taking the name Alpha Blondy, he performed on an Ivory Coast talent-search television program, First Chance. Spotted by a producer, he recorded an album, Jah Glory, that went on to become an African million-seller.
One of that album's songs dealt with a police raid, a risky theme in authoritarian West Africa, and Blondy's fame spread. Jah Glory and its Paris-recorded 1984 follow-up, Cocody Rock, received international distribution, and, by the middle 1980s, many observers saw in Blondy a successor to the recently deceased Bob Marley, who had drawn huge crowds in the years immediately before his 1981 death from a brain tumor. Blondy toured the United States and Europe, and like Marley, he applied his talents to the peaceful resolution of political conflict. A 1986 concert he gave on the border between the warring nations of Mali and Burkina Faso is credited with helping to bring about a cease of hostilities.
Such albums as Jerusalem, Apartheid is Nazism, and Masada have brought Blondy worldwide acclaim. Though firmly rooted musically in the reggae tradition, Blondy added to it a distinctive element of African percussion and African-style backup vocals--his full band, Solar System, has 15 members who collectively allow his music to succeed not only on home ground but globally as well.
A somewhat eccentric performer, Blody is reknowed for wearing brightly colored robes or army fatigues, sporting a Jewish Star of David on his hat or tam and carrying both a Bible and a copy of the Islamic Quran. Whch I guess is a subtle way of getting his audiences to accept and acknowledge diversity, he has sung in Hebrew in Arabic countries and in Arabic in Israel, where he enjoyed a strong following.
Notably quiet musically, thru the ninties Blondy returned to action with the 1998 CD Yitzhak Rabin, commemorating the slain Israeli leader who had tried to bring peace to the Middle East. Partly recorded at Marley's Tuff Gong studios in Kingston Jamaica , Yitzhak Rabin featured backup vocals from Marley's former backing group, the I-Threes.. Blondy's album Merci released in 2002 was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Reggae Album the following year. His latest contribution to the world of music is the 2007 album Jah Victory , in my opinion was an excellent contribution laced neatly with eclectic percussion and african chants I loved it and can’t wait for his new release later this year. Here at emusic you can listen to snippetts, before you got out and buy, enjoy .
