Africa Is a Country

Independence Day: Côte d’Ivoire

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Independence Day: Côte d’Ivoire

By
Boima Tucker

Côte d’Ivoire celebrated their 51st year of independence from France yesterday. Music has played a role in national political identity throughout the country’s conflict. I’m sure that it will continue to play a role as the country tries to move on from its recent turmoil.

The Ivory Coast in the 70’s and 80’s had one of West Africa’s strongest recording industries, and became a magnet for musicians, especially from what was then Zaire. Congolese Soukous still has a strong influence on Ivorian popular music today.

In the 80’s Alpha Blondy came on the scene and made the Ivory Coast a Reggae country. Tiken Jah Fakoly continues that tradition today.

But, no other music points to Ivory Coast’s national identity in the world today more than Coupe Decale.

Of course, with the genius of those like DJ Arafat…

and the international appeal of Magic System…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgmD7BDEWTA

Zouglou and Coupe Decale have become important touchstones in my own musical life.

I hear Zouglou is making a resurgence after being bumped out a little by the more digitally oriented Coupe Decale. To me, Zouglou is one of the best musics to hear live:

Also, with distinct styles coming out of camps like the Choco Gangster Rap crew (who we talked about here) and CIAfrica, the Ivorian Hip Hop scene is growing strong as well.

Here’s to hoping that this independence can mark a permanent step towards peace and unification in the Côte d’Ivoire.

Further Reading

Fictions of freedom

K. Sello Duiker’s ‘The Quiet Violence of Dreams’ still haunts Cape Town, a city whose beauty masks its brutal exclusions. Two decades later, in the shadow of Amazon’s new development, its truths are more urgent than ever.

When things fall apart

Against a backdrop of global collapse, one exhibition used Chinua Achebe’s classic to hold space for voices from the Global South—and asked who gets to imagine the future.

The General sleeps

As former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s death is mourned with official reverence, a generation remembers the eight years that drove them out.

The grift tank

In Washington’s think tank ecosystem, Africa is treated as a low-stakes arena where performance substitutes for knowledge. The result: unqualified actors shaping policy on behalf of militarists, lobbyists, and frauds.

Kagame’s hidden war

Rwanda’s military deployments in Mozambique and its shadowy ties to M23 rebels in eastern Congo are not isolated interventions, rather part of a broader geopolitical strategy to expand its regional influence.

After the coups

Without institutional foundations or credible partners, the Alliance of Sahel States risks becoming the latest failed experiment in regional integration.

Whose game is remembered?

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game—before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.