- Title: IVORY COAST: Ivorian Rasta Village opens its doors for Reggae Festival
- Date: 10th May 2010
- Summary: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (MAY 8, 2010 ) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REGGAE MUSICIANS PERFORMING
- Embargoed: 25th May 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Communications
- Reuters ID: LVAEKBULBEGBBP8ZJYNQ4BNWM6J7
- Story Text: With its wooden shacks on a beach shaded by palm trees, Ivory Coast's "Rasta Village" could be anywhere in West Africa -- if it wasn't for all the dreadlocks, Ethiopian flags and murals of the Lion of Judah.
This weekend the villagers in Ivory Coast's Rastafarian colony, near the port of Abidjan, made a rare opening to the outside world with a four-day reggae festival that culminates in the anniversary of Bob Marley's death on Tuesday (May 12).
Reggae bands pumped out loud basslines. Devoted Rastarians with big dreadlocks sipped beers at bar tables painted in the red, yellow and green of their adopted Ethiopian flag, each named after one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
With its unique blend of Old Testament Christianity and pan-African nationalism, Rastafarianism -- Rastafari as its followers prefer to call it -- is usually more associated with its birth place in Jamaica than the continent it yearns for.
But African Rastafarians, whose tell-tale dreadlocks can be spotted across the continent from the beaches of Zanzibar to the slums of Johannesburg, insist they're the real thing.
"With this festival, we would like to show that reggae lives beyond Alpha Blondy and Tiken Jah Facoly. There are other things and other brothers to see. There is this grandeur, this variety of things and artists here who need to express themselves, to make themselves known," said a reggae musician, Ras Kaloudja, after performing at the festival.
Reggae, the music which exposed Rastafian culture to the world, is huge in Ivory Coast.
''We have achieved something in Ivory Coast today. We can't just pretend that we come third, but we can even say that we are first. The work they did over there (in Jamaica) was developed further here, and we've now completed what they started," said Ras Goody Brown, in his house with a mural of Bob Marley in his most cliched pose.
While other West Africans jig to Senegalese rumba or Malian 'desert blues', in Abidjan's ubiquitous outdoor bars you are much more likely to see a live reggae band playing.
Reggae star Alpha Blondy is probably the most famous Ivorian besides Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba.
The Ivorian Rasta village was established by local artists and musicians in 1999 and currently houses about 250 people.
Villagers say they live a life similar to their Jamaican counterparts: simple, peaceful, full of music.
"It's the same culture, it's the same culture which originated in Africa, was exported to the Caribbean and which has come back here. It's the same culture everywhere, the same state of mind. Now, from the music point of view, obviously there are differences. London reggae is different from Jamaican reggae which in itself is different from Ivorian reggae," Kaloudja said.
Apart from musicians, many in the village make a living selling Rasta-style clothes and trinkets.
Amongst the many murals that brighten the village's walls are Ethiopia's former Emperor Haile Salasse, believed by Rastas to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and a direct descendent of the Biblical King Soloman and the Queen of Sheba.
Then there's Marcus Garvey, the early 20th century Jamaican writer whose vision of a 'United States of Africa' inspired a generation of African intellectuals to demand independence for their countries.
One of those intellectuals, Ghana's first President Kwame Nkrumah, also has a spot on the village's wall.
And, incongruously, there is Ivory Coast's national slogan urging 'discipline and work' -- not obvious Rasta virtues.
Ivory Coast's post-independence leaders rejected pan-Africanism and chose to cooperate with the imperialists, building close ties with former colonial master France.
Rastafarians see Africa as their promised land, 'Zion', and reject Western culture as a greedy, self-serving 'Babylon'.
Despite the increasing allure of Western consumer society, the idea still holds sway over many Africans. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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