- Title: IVORY COAST: BEST SELLING REGGAE STAR ALPHA BLONDY SET TO RELEASE 19TH ALBUM.
- Date: 5th June 2002
- Summary: POSTER ADVERTISING BLONDY'S ALBUM "MERCI"
- Embargoed: 20th June 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Entertainment,General
- Reuters ID: LVA79WBW0V3U4ZMIYZ58NJLHPTIL
- Story Text: Alpha Blondy is Ivory Coast's most famous musician.
He's dominated his country's music charts for two decades now and recently released his nineteenth album.
His musical achievement is monumental. This is the man who took Jamaican reggae and brought it home to Africa. In his home country he's a legend, even to the police.
Alpha Blondy - reggae superstar.
In the early 80's Alpha Blondy exploded out of nowhere.
These days he commands a $25,000 fee per concert. But it wasn't always like that. He started with a string of disadvantages. He grew up in a poor Moslem family. He can't play a musical instrument, and as a youth spent two years in a psychiatric hospital.
After 20 years in the business, he's just released his nineteenth album to add to a collection that includes Jah Glory, Jerusalem and Masada. His latest is entitled simply Merci. It pays homage to his fans. He says "They came to your concerts, they bought your records, their love helped you overcome all the difficulties somehow. So you say on this album ' this is yours, this is to say thank you. Thank you to God, thank to everybody who from far or near have helped to stitch my career together."
In Ivory Coast alone, the album sold 40,000 copies in its first week. On a brief trip home between concerts in Latin America and Europe, Alpha talked to Africa Journal.
He also showed us his extraordinary house - a temple to his own version of the Rastafarian faith.
He says "It's a state of mind, it's a philosophy that has become almost a religion, which uses the bible as it's holy book, the Old Testament. Because in the Old Testament it speaks about Ethiopia and asks people to turn towards Ethiopia."
But he's an unconventional rasta.
Alpha speaks a little Hebrew and a little Arabic and the house combines Christian and Jewish symbols as well as symbols of the Islam of his childhood.
Needless to say Alpha Blondy's house is one of the city's most distinctive - and strangest - landmarks.
When at home, Alpha hangs out with friends outside his house and receives a constant stream of visitors. He calls it his "Parliament" and there's little doubt who the Speaker of Parliament is.
Alpha doesn't write in the studio. He waits for ideas to come to him and it's while he's relaxing that he's at his most creative.
And there's another reason to stay at home. Alpha Blondy can't go out without attracting a crowd. We followed him to the airport to see off one of his aunts. Only the soldiers prevented chaos.
"He is a role-model for young Ivorians. He's a man that we need to follow. Today, with all his qualities, he embodies the very image of what we're suffering. You see, Alpha Blondy started with nothing and today look what he is. Young Ivorians like us are living in misery and we want to follow his example", says Dea Nasis.
He may be rich, famous and living in a virtual palace. But to poor Ivorians, Alpha Blondy has never lost touch with his roots. At nearly 50 he's achieved an almost mythical status.
Maybe despite all his money people can still hear the suffering when he sings.
This man says "Alpha Blondy is no longer the prophet. He's God. Why? Because it's him these days who looks after youth in Ivory Coast, it's he who does lots for us. Alpha is irreplaceable. He's God for the young Ivorians today."
Alpha sees his fame as part of a larger plan. His mission and his message: to pass on the gospel of reggae. It's at the centre of his whole life.
Alpha Blondy says " Reggae's gonna grow bigger, and bigger, each and every day the day reggae's gonna reach the motherland and today reggae has become the newspaper of the poor countries. Bob Marley made the prophesy to Alpha Blondy and Alpha Blondy made the prophesy to all the other reggaemen in Africa, without any vanity."
And he's never been afraid to attack the powers that be.
He called for multi-party democracy in the eighties. Now he's declared his support of the opposition party associated with the Muslim north, the land of Alpha's origins. But his stance has divided his fans.
"I don't completely agree with his new political stance, because he represents all Ivorian youth. We all take different positions on political matters and he shouldn't come down on one side or the other. He's an individual like everybody else", says Louis Ouallo.
His political stance has just made him some powerful enemies but he's not fazed.
Says Blondy "No, I'm not afraid to speak the truth if it can help people to see the truth if it can help people to right what's wrong and help people to improve the sores of the people. That's why I'm not afraid to say what I think."
Today his message is a warning aimed at his country's politicians. He sings first in French then in his native Dioula a song from his new album.
The message is direct and simple: you're playing with fire.
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