Alpha Blondy

Seydou Koné (born January 1, 1953, in Dimbokro ), better known by his stage name Alpha Blondy, is an Ivorian reggae singer and international recording artist.

Many of his songs are politically and socially motivated, and are mainly sung in his native language Dyula, French and English, though he occasionally uses other languages, for example, Arabic or Hebrew.

The first son of a family of eight children, Seydou Koné was raised by his grandmother in an environment described by him as "among elders", which was to have a big impact on his career.

In 1962, Alpha Blondy joined his father in Odienné, where he spent ten years, attended Sainte Elisabeth High School, and was involved in the Ivory Coast students movement.

He formed a band in high school, but this affected his schooling and he was expelled for poor attendance.

His parents sent him to study English in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, in 1973.

He spent thirteen months there and then moved to the United States to improve his English.

In 1974, Seydou moved to New York where he majored in English at Hunter College and the Columbia University American Language Program, pursuing a career in teaching.

In New York, he was introduced to Rastafari and attended concerts by Jamaican artists including Burning Spear.

Seydou was involved in multiple altercations before returning to the Ivory Coast where he encountered further trouble until he reunited with his childhood friend, Fulgence Kassi, who had become a noted television producer.

This was the beginning of his career as a musician, and he adopted the alias "Alpha Blondy".

This album was to have enormous success and would become later a symbol of resistance because of the song "Brigadier Sabari," which documents his experience of being arrested in Abidjan in the 1980s and his subsequent mistreatment by the police.

Alpha Blondy became a big star in Abidjan with his African twist of Reggae music, becoming in the eyes of his fans "the Bob Marley of Africa".

Alpha Blondy is spiritual, political and positive just like Marley himself, and recorded a cover of Bob Marley's song "War".

In order to reach more people with his message, he chose to sing in many languages: English; French; Baoulé, and his native language – Dioula.

Later, he also brought new instrumentation to his brand of reggae such as the violin and cello.

Soon, the fame of Alpha Blondy spread to Europe.

After various TV shows for Kassi, Blondy recorded his first solo album in 1982, entitled Jah Glory.

Following the success of an EP entitled Rasta Poué, he went to Paris in 1984 to make his second album, Cocody Rock, with the label Pathe Marconi.

Blondy travelled to the island of Jamaica and recorded the title track of this album with Marley's backing group, The Wailers.

Back home in 1985, Blondy went into the studio to record Apartheid Is Nazism; the title song was a call for the end of apartheid.

In 1986, he recorded “Jerusalem” at Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica, again with The Wailers featuring legendary Aston "Family Man" Barrett.

Blondy tried to promote unity between the religion of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

He drew his arguments and inspiration from his own diverse knowledge of the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah.

That same year, he sang in Hebrew during a concert in Morocco.

At this point, he was continuously touring.

His new album Revolution had a lighter, gentler sound; this album featured cellos in the instrumentation, and the line-up included veteran Ivory Coast singer Aicha Kone.

The album also included "Jah Houphouët parle", a long speech by Ivory Coast president Félix Houphouët-Boigny with only the most minimal beat behind it.

Blondy spent the years 1987–89 giving concerts and recording SOS Guerre Tribale in Abidjan.

This was promoted by Blondy himself, as he was distancing himself from Pathe Marconi at this stage.

This was not to be a real success but it did not deter Blondy and in 1991 he returned to Europe for a concert tour and to record his famous album Masada with the help of musical legends such as Bocana Maiga and UK reggae producer Dennis Bovell.

The album, with its hit single "Rendez Vous", was a huge success, and Blondy was later to receive his first Gold Disc in Paris.

At the beginning of 1993, worn out from a world tour, Blondy succumbed to depression and was taken into an institution for psychiatric help.

But as his health recovered he recorded the album Dieu ("God"), on which he appears more spiritual and religious, on tracks such as "Heal Me", about his illness and recovery.

Blondy's psychiatric treatment continued but on 10 December 1994, he was back with the festival in memory of President Houphouet, and later he made his European comeback at a storming concert at Le Zenith in Paris.

Since then he has recorded albums and singles, such as "Yitzhak Rabin", in memory of the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated in 1995 (this was accompanied by a grueling tour of Europe), the single "Journaliste en Danger" from his 2000 album Elohim.

In 1996, Blondy released a hits compilation and went back into the studio to record the album Grand Bassam Zion, singing in six languages: Malinke; Arabic; French; English; Ashanti and Wolof.

After two more years in Paris, Blondy returned to his homeland in 1998, with a new album, The Prophet.

Convinced his label was too focused on the international market, he decided to create his own label.

Alpha Blondy celebrated 20 years as a recording artist with the 2002 release of CD MERCI, featuring Ophelie Winter and Saian Supa Crew, which earned him a 2003 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Reggae Album".