Tiken Jah Fakoly – top-class reggae from Ivory Coast
Tiken Jah Fakoly has determined the significance of reggae not only in Western Africa but de facto in all Francophone countries for almost 30 years.
28. January 2015
Compared to the “Jamaican branch”, the African take on reggae is a few degrees hotter. Following the old saying “a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country,” the hot-blooded Fakoly became persona non grata in his homeland Ivory Coast as well as in Senegal. The singer simply just doesn’t pull any punches and, like on the cover of his latest record, he keeps a tight grip on a megaphone of human rights and freedom.
But political views have never been enough to earn musicians an invitation to Trenčín Airport. Fakoly is the winner of “French Grammy” Victoires de la Musique, he’s got 10 studio albums under his belt and has played festivals such as the French Printemps de Bourges, Belgian Dour, Canadian Quebec City Summer Festival and the one we all know very well – Sziget. His new album features Nneka, Patrice and Alpha Blondy. The sound of his albums is the arithmetic mean of musicians and influences in the direction of Bamako, Paris and Kingston (Jamaica). However, reggae has not been made for audiophiles. Its main territory is the stage. In July, the proof is coming with Tiken Jah Fakoly to the following GPS coordinates: 48° 52' 18.6" N, 18° 00' 54.9" E.