Viewed as the song that spawned African reggae, Brigadier Sabari came to light three decades ago in an Abidjan studio on Alpha Blondy’s first album. We look back on the story behind a ground-breaking song and the album that featured it, Jah Glory.
Following kompa crooner Michel Martelly’s election as president of the Republic of Haiti, the singer Bélo delivers his own message on Haïti debout, the third album from the 2006 winner of the RFI Découvertes music award.
It’s thirty years since the king of Jamaican musician Bob Marley died on 11 May 1981. The star that personifies the sound of reggae shone far beyond the world of music, offering words of wisdom to support the oppressed. And many still find solace in his message.
Exactly thirty years after he first emerged in the Ivoirian media, reggaeman Alpha Blondy called on the solid, united band that has accompanied him live for years to record Vision, a frequently introspective album devised while on tour.
Since the end of the great raï era, the Gnawa Diffusion craze and the beginnings of rap, there had been little for young Algerian music enthusiasts to get excited about. Since late 2008, however, they’ve been dancing to Djmawi Africa’s fusion sound sensation.
There are times when you need a helping hand to reach a new milestone. To put together his fourth album, Nimissa, Guinean singer and musician Ba Cissoko was assisted by reputed producer Philippe Eidel, who has managed to draw out each song’s potential and assure some ship-shape production.
