zouglou and reggae

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Journal of African Media Studies Volume 1 Number 1 © 2009 Intellect Ltd
Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/jams.1.1.117/1
Popular music and political change in
Côte d’Ivoire: the divergent dynamics
of zouglou and reggae
Anne Schumann School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London
Abstract
Keywords
In Côte d’Ivoire, popular music genres such as reggae and zouglou have served as a
domain for the articulation of ideas about politicians, corruption, citizenship,
national history and identity. This paper specifically analyses the divergent dynamics
of reggae and zouglou. Reggae, in Côte d’Ivoire as in its country of origin Jamaica,
has characteristically been associated with commentary on socio-political issues.
Zouglou emerged in the 1990s in the context of the student demonstrations for
political liberalization and, along with reggae, served as a platform for criticism of
prevailing social and political conditions. Ivorian popular music has consequently
been associated with the return to multi-party politics. It has also been very outspoken
against divisive political rhetoric such as Ivoirité. However, after the outbreak of open
conflict in 2002, new themes have emerged in zouglou. In compilations that have
been termed ‘patriotic albums’, many well-known artists have aligned themselves with
the government and the Alliance of Young Patriots, depicting a partial, ‘southern’
portrayal of the conflict. Thus ideological positions in Ivorian music have varied over
time and across genres, and a category such as protest music is ill suited to fully
capture its dimensions.
Popular music
youth and politics
political change
patriotism
Côte d’Ivoire
Music does not exist autonomously of other social, economic and political
institutions. Music may still be able to change the world as well as reflecting
it, but, when we talk of music’s politics, we are not just talking of the way it
articulates ideas and emotion. We are also talking of the politics that shape it.
(Street 2001: 254)
The coup d’état in Côte d’Ivoire at the end of 1999 set in motion a period of
political instability that in 2002 resulted in a civil war dividing the country. To understand the circumstances leading to these political developments, it is essential not just to analyse transformations in the military
and the political elite, but also to understand popular conceptualization of
political issues. In West Africa, popular music functions as a means of
mass communication and its themes can reflect and contribute to the formation of public opinion. In addition, music functions as a ‘trenchant
political site in Africa primarily because it is the most widely appreciated
art form on the continent’ (Allen 2004: 1). Radio, for example, has been
characterized as the most effective means of disseminating information
JAMS 1 (1) pp. 117–133 © Intellect Ltd 2009
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1. Some artists
maintain that
they wrote patriotic
songs to support
their country, rather
than its government.
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and ideas in Africa (Carver and Maja-Pearce in Campbell 1998: 14). The
spectacular growth in access to broadcast radio across Africa (see Fardon
and Furniss 2000; Tudesq 2002) led to music’s position as Africa’s ‘most
salient popular art, one that is most comprehensively transmitted through
the mass media, giving it exceptionally wide reach’ (Allen 2004: 2). As
Winston Mano (2007) demonstrated with regards to Zimbabwe, popular
music can usefully be considered as a form of journalism.
In order to fully grasp the implications of the Ivorian conflict, it is important to understand the discourses used in Côte d’Ivoire that shape political
attitudes, since the debate on national identity is not confined to political circles, but is debated within Ivorian society at large. In Côte d’Ivoire, popular
music genres such as reggae and zouglou have played a critical role at significant turning points in recent Ivorian history and have served as a domain
for articulation of ideas and information about politicians, corruption, citizenship, national history and identity. This paper analyses the divergent
dynamics of reggae and zouglou from democratization in 1990, through the
coup d’état in 1999 and the outbreak of civil war in 2002. Reggae, in Côte
d’Ivoire as in its country of origin Jamaica, has characteristically been associated with commentary on socio-political issues. Zouglou emerged in the
1990s in the context of student demonstrations for political liberalization
and, along with reggae, served as a platform for criticism of prevailing social
and political conditions. Ivorian popular music has consequently been associated with the return to multi-party politics under Félix Houphouët-Boigny
in 1990 and the overthrow of Henri Konan Bédié by General Robert Gueï in
1999. It has also been very outspoken against divisive political rhetoric such
as Ivoirité. However, after the outbreak of open conflict in 2002, new themes
have emerged in zouglou. In compilations that have been termed ‘patriotic
albums’, many well-known artists have aligned themselves with the government and the Alliance of Young Patriots – Alliance des jeunes patriots – led
by Charles Blé Goudé.1 These patriotic songs have often depicted a partial,
‘southern’ portrayal of the conflict. Thus ideological positions in Ivorian
music have varied over time and across genres, and a category such as
protest music is ill suited to fully capture its dimensions. These dynamics in
popular Ivorian music also demonstrate the inadequacy of trying to understand postcolonial power relations between the rulers and the ruled through
what Achille Mbembe describes as ‘the binary categories used in standard
interpretations of domination’ (in Nyairo and Ogude 2005: 246).
Democratization and the emergence of zouglou in the 1990s
On 30 April 1990 Houphouët-Boigny legalized opposition parties and reinstated multi-party politics in response to a widespread movement for
democratization. During this period, popular music, especially reggae and
zouglou, turned into ‘key channels for raising political awareness and mobilization’ (Akindès 2002: 86). From February to April 1990, students at the
University of Abidjan, the Students’ and Schools’ Federation of Côte d’Ivoire –
Fédération estudiantine et scolaire de Côte d’Ivoire (the student union
FESCI) – and other youth organizations were at the forefront of demonstrations against declining living conditions and demanding political liberalization (Akindès 2002: 87). Zouglou emerged in this context, and accordingly
most of its initial songs and first successes described the difficulties of
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student life. As a new, urban musical form, zouglou distinguishes itself
through its use of nouchi, the French street-slang spoken in Abidjan, and
its use of very direct, outspoken texts, rather than of subtle, coded messages. This may partly be due to zouglou’s birth in the context of the liberalization of the press, and a perception that a frank discussion of the
country’s problems was long overdue. This is, for example, the theme of
the song ‘Bouche B’ (‘Gaping mouth’) by the group Les Salopards:
Mes chers frères, oh, je vais vous
dire certaines choses,
On ne voulait pas parler,
mais …je suis obligé, oh,
Il y a le feu au pays.
Quand on voit tout ça là,
C’est parce que on ne veut pas
parler, oh.
On voit tout ça, on ne dit rien.
On voit tout ça que vous faites,
on ne veut pas parler, oh.…
Maintenant on va parler, oh!
My dear brothers, I will tell you
certain things,
We didn’t want to speak, but
I have to,
The country is on fire.
If we see all this is,
It’s because we didn’t want to
speak.
We see all this, but we say nothing.
We see what you do, but we don’t
want to speak …
Now we are going to talk!
Therefore, Karin Barber and Graham Furniss’ suggestion that new genres
often imply ‘new ways of looking at the world’ (Barber and Furniss 2006:
10) is demonstrated in the new sensibilities associated with the development of zouglou. The song ‘Gblogblo Koffi’ by Didier Bilé (1990), describing
the difficulties of student life, was one of zouglou’s first big hits, selling over
90,000 copies2 (Solo 2003: 123). In the introduction, the singer exclaims:
Ah ! La vie estudiantine !
Elle est belle mais il y a encore
beaucoup des problèmes
Lorsqu’on voit un étudiant, on
l’envie
Bien sapé, joli garçon sans
produit ghanéen
Mais en fait, il faut entrer dans
son milieu pour connaître
La misère et la galère d’un
étudiant.
Ohô ! Bon Dieu, qu’avons nous
fait pour subir un tel sort ?
Et c’est cette manière d’implorer
le Seigneur
Qui a engendré le zouglou, danse
philosophique
Qui permet à l’étudiant de se
réjouir
Et d’oublier un peu ses
problèmes.
Dansons donc le zouglou !
Ah, student life!
It’s beautiful, but there are still
many problems
When you see a student, you envy
him
Well-dressed handsome guy, without
beauty products
But in fact you have to enter his
environment to know
The misery and the agony of a
student.
Oh, good God what have we done
to be inflicted with such a fate?
And this way of imploring the Lord
Has created zouglou, a philosophic
dance
That permits students to enjoy
themselves
And to forget their problems for a
while.
So let’s dance zouglou!
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
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2. However, due to
widespread piracy,
official sales figures
do not necessarily
represent the actual
popularity of songs.
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3. Many political
actors in the
current conflict,
such as Guillaume
Soro and Charles
Blé Goudé as well
as other actors in
the ‘patriotic galaxy’,
were leaders in
student politics and
in the FESCI in the
early 1990s. This
generation of political
actors emerged in
the same period as
zouglou music.
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In the context of economic deterioration, the state cut down on social benefits such as subsidized bus fares, rooms and catering for students. The song
‘Génération sacrifée’ (‘Sacrificed generation’), from an album by the same
title from the group Les Salopards, reveals how students’ economic and
political grievances were expressed simultaneously:
Quand ça commence on dit
étudiant aime trop palabre.
Quand ça commence on dit
étudiant aime trop grever.
Au début ils nous ont arraché les
bus,
On nous fait payer les chambres,
les tickets de restauration.
Au lieu de donner de cours, ils
font des fascicules,
Rien que pour s’enrichir.
Ils créent le système pour nous
recaler.
Les grands frères sont fâchés,
Le vieux père veut pas
s’aider.
Étudiant dit de lui donner son
argent,
Il ne sait plus comment manger.
Étudiant dit de libérer les
prisonniers
Qui n’ont pas volé, ils ont que
des idées.
Etes-vous obligées de nous
pourchasser,
Nous tuer, nous emprisonner
Pendant que nous demandent
des conditions
Meilleurs pour travailler? …
When it starts they say students
like too much palaver.
When it starts they say students
like strikes too much.
First, they took away the bus
fares,
They make us pay for our rooms,
for our catering tickets.
Instead of giving lectures, they
make photocopies,
Just to enrich themselves.
They have recreated the system to
control us.
The older brothers are angry,
Our old fathers don’t want to
help us.
Students say to give them their
money,
They no longer know how to eat.
Students say to free the prisoners
who have not stolen,
Who just have ideas.
Are you obliged to pursue us,
To kill us, imprison us
While we ask for better working
conditions?
When we make demands, they
respond with tear gas.
Quand on revendique on nous
répond avec de la lacrymogène.
Zouglou presented itself as a genre of marginalized youth, and since zouglou
emerged in the context of political protests, zouglou’s many songs about the
adverse living conditions of students were associated with criticism of the
failing economy and the Houphouët-Boigny government. Zouglou emerged
in an ‘atmosphere of general struggle’ and animated the meetings of the
FESCI3 (Thiemélé 2003: 71). Through popular music, the youth of
Abidjan were expressing the desire for political agency. The deterioration
of the standard of living of course affected not only students, but also the
population at large, and widespread public unrest ensued, including
public sector and security forces strikes. Alpha Blondy, Côte d’Ivoire’s
most prominent reggae singer, had a reputation for addressing social
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and political concerns in his songs.4 Starting in the 1990s, his songs
became increasingly confrontational. In ‘Multipartisme’ (‘Multi-party politics’), one of his biggest hits, he documented the social unrest and the economic crisis that accompanied democratization.
Les militaires sont fâchés parce
qu’ils ont mal payés
Les policiers sont fâchés parce
qu’ils ont mal payés
Les professeurs sont fâchés, leurs
droits syndicaux bafoués
Les étudiants sont fâchés, ils
veulent plus de liberté
Papier longueur lé mourouti,
parce qu’ils ont été cognés5
Les médecins sont fâchés parce
qu’ils ont mal payés
Les ouvriers sont fâchés parce
qu’ils ont été compressés
Le gouvernement est fâché, les
caisses de l’état vidées, vidées
The soldiers are angry because
they are underpaid
The police are angry because they
are underpaid
The professors are angry, their
union rights flouted
The students are angry, they want
more freedoms
Students have revolted because
they have taken a beating
The doctors are angry because
they are underpaid
The workers are angry because
they were downsized
The government is angry, state
funds are empty, empty
5. Papier longuer = those
who study for a long
time (i.e. university
students), lé mourouti =
have revolted.
6. Also see Dozon
(1997) for a detailed
account of the
ethnic and migratory
dynamics of the
development of the
plantation economy
in colonial Côte
d’Ivoire.
7. See Kipré (2005) on
the Kragbe Gnagbe
affair, for example.
Furthermore, the song warns of the politicization of ethno-regional identities in a multi-party system: multi-party politics isn’t tribal politics (multipartisme c’est pas tribalisme). While zouglou was identified with the student
movement for democratization from its inception, similar criticism was
voiced in reggae songs, and both genres contributed to political conscientization in the early 1990s.
Ethno-regional politics
Houphouët-Boigny stood as candidate for the Democratic Party of Cote
d’Ivoire – Parti démocratique de la Côte d’Ivoire – (PDCI) and was elected
as president on 28 October 1990. Ethno-regional political alliances were
already a feature in Côte d’Ivoire’s first multi-party election, and are worth
reviewing in more detail. Under the single-party system, HouphouëtBoigny had aimed to make the PDCI into a national party, with a considerable degree of success. He continued the historical alliance of Baoulé
farmers and northern Ivorian and Burkinabé migrant workers that had
started under French colonial forced labour regimes6 (Crook 1997: 222).
Inhabitants of the mainly Bété regions in the centre–west felt marginalized
as both northerners and Baoulé migrated to their region to farm cocoa,
and therefore these areas developed into centres of opposition to the
PDCI.7 As part of Houphouët-Boigny’s alliance, foreign Africans had been
allowed to vote in Ivorian elections, and this practice became hotly contested after democratization. Thus, in 1990, Gbagbo, the leader of the
major opposition party Ivorian Popular Front – Front populaire ivoirien –
(FPI), accused the PDCI of unfair practices since it was likely that Sahelian
migrants would again vote for their benefactor and thus for the PDCI. The
FPI campaign attacked the PDCI as unfair Baoulé domination, accusing
the PDCI of being a partial regime that had ‘systematically favoured the
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
4. See Konaté (1987)
for a detailed
account of Alpha
Blondy’s career.
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8. Original text: Nous
ne voulons plus faire
partie de la république
de Côte d’Ivoire après
Houphouët-Boigny.
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interest of particular Ivorian ethnic groups – Baoulé and groups from the
north – and foreigners’ (Crook 1997: 222).
However, even before Houphouët-Boigny’s death, there were signs of the
PDCI–Northern alliance breaking down, as demonstrated by the Charter of
the Greater North (Chartre du Grand Nord) issued by Blondy in 1992
(Konaté 2002: 301). The text states unambiguously that after HouphouëtBoigny’s death, the author does not see a place for the north in the country: we no longer want to be a part of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire after
Houphouët-Boigny.8 Houphouët-Boigny died on 7 December 1993 and
was succeeded by Bédié, the leader of the National Assembly, as outlined in
the constitution. Alassane Dramane Ouattara, his main rival, who had
joined the Houphouët-Boigny government to implement structural adjustment policies, quit his post as prime minister and left the country to rejoin
the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A number of PDCI members who
had supported Ouattara’s economic policies left the PDCI to form the
Assembly of Republicans – Rassemblement des républicains – (RDR). With
the creation of the RDR, Bédié feared that disaffected northerners now had
their own regional party and that this would cost the PDCI dearly in
northern votes. This stance became a self-fulfilling prophecy, since by
pushing the RDR into the position of an ethno-regional party and by purging Ouattara supporters in the civil service and dismissing northerners
from positions in the media, Bédié drove northern Ivorians into the arms
of the RDR (Crook 1997: 226).
Ivoirité, autochthony, national history
The emergence of the RDR, viewed by Bédié as the greatest threat to the
PDCI, resulted in Bédié issuing an electoral code that restricted the vote to
Ivorian nationals, on the assumption of the conflation of the interests of
internal migrants from the north and foreigners from neighbouring
Sahelian countries. This code also barred Ouattara from running as candidate in the 1995 elections on the grounds that his Ivorian nationality was
in doubt, and that he might actually be from Burkina Faso. Bédié’s legalistic strategy to exclude his major political rival from standing for election
also resulted in the revival of the concept of Ivoirité. This had the deleterious consequences of creating Ivorians of different degrees, ‘pure’ and
‘mixed’ Ivorian identity, and putting the Ivorian nationality of migrants
from the northern parts of the country into question. The bizarre effects of
this political use of Ivoirité are described in the zouglou song ‘Tu sais qui je
suis’ (‘You know who I am’) by the group Les Poussins Chocs, in the satirical style typical of the genre.
Tu sais qui je suis !
Si l’ivoirien te dit « tu sais qui je
suis »,
Il veut dire qu’il est ivoirien que
toi.
Tu sais qui je suis !
Nouveau millénaire arrive
Où chaque pays prépare son
bilan.
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You know who I am!
If an Ivorian tells you ‘you know
who I am’,
He wants to tell you that he is
more Ivorian than you.
You know who I am!
It’s the new millennium
Where every country does its
assessment.
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C’est là l’ivoirien a la peur au
ventre.
Affaire de l’ivoirité,
Parce qu’il ne sait pas s’il sera
toujours ivoirien.
Tu sais qui je suis !
Je connaissais un monsieur, il
était ivoirien,
Vers la fin il est devenu ghanéen.
Il y a un autre aussi,
Il était ivoirien et puis après il est
devenu mossi.
Même le chef du village, le gens
ont commencé de dire
Qu’il ne pas ivoirien aussi.
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There, the Ivorian gets afraid.
Due to Ivoirité,
He doesn’t know if he’ll always be
Ivorian.
You know who I am!
I knew a man, he was Ivorian,
And in the end he became Ghanaian.
There was another one,
He was Ivorian, and afterwards he
became Mossi.
Even the village chief, people have
started saying
That he isn’t Ivorian either.
In this song, Les Poussins Chocs highlight a fundamental dilemma in the
discourses of autochthony: the danger ‘that someone can always claim to
“belong” even more than you do’ and that ‘one can never be sure that one
“really” belongs’ (Geschiere and Jackson 2006: 6). This uncertainty of
national identity and the use of nationality to disqualify political opponents (those who have changed camps) are also mentioned by Tiken Jah
Fakoly in the reggae song ‘Plus jamais ça’ (‘Never this again’).
Quand ca commence et tu
changes de camp
Tu deviens automatiquement
libérien
Ou bien ghanéen, sinon on
t’appelle le burkinabé
Tout simplement parce que tu
change de camp
When it starts and you change
camps
You automatically become Liberian
Or Ghanaian, or otherwise they
call you Burkinabé
Simply because you have changed
camps
The perception of the political use of Ivoirité is thus very similar across genres.
Additionally, both songs refer to the same events. Djény Kobina, a founding
member of the RDR, came from the south-western region of Côte d’Ivoire.
The electoral commission declared Kobina’s nomination invalid on the
grounds that he could not prove that he had Ivorian parents. Kobina had held
high positions in previous governments and served as PDCI national secretary for external relations under Houphouët-Boigny and was able to produce
a certificate of Ivorian nationality. However, he could not produce birth documents of his parents, who were allegedly Ghanaians. His appeal to the constitutional court was rejected in three days (Crook 1997: 238). The case of the
Ivorian who discovered that he was Burkinabé refers to Ouattara, as discussed
above. The political nature of these accusations of foreign nationality at
founding members of the RDR illustrates ‘that democratization seems to trigger a general obsession with autochthony and ethic citizenship invariably
defined against “strangers”’ (Geschiere and Nyamnjoh 2006).
However, this ‘obsession with belonging’ (Nyamnjoh 2005) was not
simply a political strategy in Côte d’Ivoire, since this debate was continued
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
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9. For a detailed
historical account
of the settlement of
the territory that is
now Côte d’Ivoire,
see Kipré (2005).
For an account
of the migration
of the Akan under
Queen Abla Pokou,
see pp. 39–42.
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in the society at large. Zouglou and reggae songs also engaged with theories
of who came from where, when and why. ‘Tu sais qui je suis’ one such song:
A l’école primaire, l’histoire de la
Reine Pokou9,
Les gens ont dit que les Akan
viennent du Ghana.
C'est pour éviter la guerre
Que les Krou sont descendu du
Libéria.
C'est aussi pour fuir la guerre
Que ces en haut sont descendu
un peu en bas.
Et puis ensemble on a formé un
joli pays.
Oú il y a pas palabre. Évitons
l’injustice entre nous.
Parce que beaucoup d’injustice
Peut entraîner un petit désordre.
Pourtant c’est les petits désordres
qui entraînent souvent des
grands gbanban.
At primary school, the history of
Queen Pokou
People said that the Akan come
from Ghana.
To avoid war
The Krou have descended from
Liberia.
It is also to avoid war
That those on top descended a bit
further down
And then together we formed a
beautiful country.
Where there is no conflict. Let’s
avoid injustices between us.
Because lots of injustice
Can create a small disorder
Yet small disorders
Often create large bambams.
The reggae song ‘Nationalité’ (‘Nationality’) by Fakoly is more detailed in
its chronology, but just like ‘Tu sais qui je suis’, this song also warns that
injustice can create social conflict.
Il était une fois une terre
cosmopolite
Sur laquelle des peuples se sont
retrouvés
C'est ainsi que les Sénoufo se sont
installés au 16ème Siècle
C'est ainsi que les Krou étaient
déjà la avant le 16ème Siècle
C'est ainsi que les Baoulé se sont
installés au 18ème
C'est ainsi que les Dioula se sont
installés au 17ème Siècle
A propos de nationalité ils ont
des difficultés
Parce qu'ils ont des cousins en
Casamance
Même s'ils ont des cousins en
Sierra Leone,
Est ce qu'il n'y a pas de Kouamé
au Ghana …
Cultivons l'unité et la paix
Il ne faut pas se contenter de le
dire
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There was once a cosmopolitan
land
On which different peoples met
Thus the Sénoufo settled there in
the 16th century
Thus the Krou were already there
before the 16th century
Thus the Baoulé settled there in
18th century
Thus the Dioula settled there in the
17th century
They have difficulties with regards
to their nationality
Because they have cousins in
Casamance
Even if they have cousins in Sierra
Leone
Aren’t there also Kouamés in
Ghana …
Let us cultivate the unity and peace
We shouldn’t be satisfied just by
saying it
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Mais il faut l’avoir dans le
comportement
Autant on peut fabriquer des
révoltés avec des doctrines
On peut aussi en fabriquer avec
l'injustice
Page 125
But we also have to show it in our
behaviour
You can manufacture rebels with
doctrines
But you can also manufacture
them with injustice
It is apparent that this song, which presents itself as opposed to Ivoirité,
does not fundamentally question its underlying logic. The claims of ‘having been the first’ (Geschiere and Jackson 2006: 5) that make up the focal
point in arguments of autochthony are elaborated in its chronology. Just
as the ideologies of the PDCI declared that on ‘10 March 1893, at the
moment when the Côte d’Ivoire was born, the ancestors of all the great
ethnic groups were already there’ (Touré in Marshall-Fratani 2006: 23),
national identity in this song is also based on which ethnic groups had
historically settled in Côte d’Ivoire, excluding descendants of more recent
migrants. The song’s argument thus in no way addresses, or even recognizes, the dilemma of second and third generation migrants from Burkina
Faso and other neighbouring countries.
The 1995 elections and the 1999 coup d’état
As a result of the exclusion of Ouattara, the RDR and FPI formed the Front
Républicain and together boycotted the 1995 elections. The political situation grew increasingly tense as the government claimed that the electoral
code was legal, and the opposition maintained that it was unacceptable. On
15 September 1995, the government banned all demonstrations, which led
to violent confrontations between the police and illegal demonstrators
throughout the country (Crook 1997: 232). The next day, Bédié called for a
round table conference of all the political leaders to find a compromise agreement between the parties as a method by which the electoral campaign could
proceed peacefully. However, the government refused any change to the electoral code and the opposition commenced what they termed an ‘active boycott’ (boycott actif), in order to de-legitimize the entire election. ‘This was
a euphemism for a concerted attempt to actively sabotage the elections,
that is, to physically prevent them from happening’ (Crook 1997: 233).
By 22 October, their action had escalated into what can only be described as
an attempt to ferment a state of insurrection (Crook 1997: 233). The song
‘Plus jamais ça’ vividly describes the unrest associated with the 1995 elections:
Quand ça commence, les bus en
flamme
Lorsqu’il y a grève, les maisons
en feu
Quand on est fâché on casse tout
Est-ce la solution ?
Arrêtez-moi tout ca là ! Nous
avons déconné …
Quand ça commence, les
voitures en flamme
When it starts, buses on fire
When there’s a strike, houses on
fire
When we are angry, we break
everything
Is this a solution?
Stop all that! We’ve gone crazy …
When it starts, cars on fire
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
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Lorsqu’il y a marche, les villes
paralysées
Quand on est fâché on brûle tout
Où est le sérieux ?
Arrêtez-moi tout ca là ! Nous
avons déconné …
Mais pourquoi casser nos acquis ?
Mais pourquoi réprimer les
citoyens ?
Au nom de quelle politique fautil détruire ?
Au nom de quelle politique fautil diviser mon peuple ?
When there’s a demonstration,
towns are paralysed
When we are angry, we burn
everything
Who is serious here?
Stop all that! We’ve gone crazy …
Why break our assets?
Why repress the citizens?
In the name of which policy do
you destroy?
In the name of which policy do
you have to divide my people?
In 1995, Bédié was elected president in an election without a credible opposition candidate, and in the context of widespread protest and his government
subsequently lacked legitimacy. By 1999, reggae and zouglou contributed to the
political demands that led to Bédié’s overthrow (Akindès 2002: 87). As mentioned above, a frequent criticism of Bédié was his use of Ivoirité to disqualify
political rivals, and his depiction of the RDR as a regional northern party and
the FPI as a Bété ethnic party. In Côte d’Ivoire, ‘where Houphouët-Boigny had
constructed a one-party state based on alliances between potentially opposed
regional groupings, to cast a political party as representative of only ethnic
interests was to de-legitimize it’ (Collett 2006: 623). Ultimately it was Bédié’s
practice of inciting ethno-regional politics that de-legitimized his own government, as can be discerned from the following song, ‘Course au pouvoir’
(‘Race to power’), by Blondy.
Y'a du sang sur la route
Qui mène a la tour du pouvoir
Y'a du sang innocent
Les partis en face disent la même
chose
Pour la même cause
Dans ce face a face
Le peuple se retrouve face au
peuple
Et le peuple massacra le peuple
au nom du peuple
Les partis en face
Sont d'accord qu'ils ne seront
jamais d'accord
Opposition radicale
Parti au pouvoir radical
Le verbe devient inamical
Et la démocratie tribale
Ils ont bété-ise le débat
Ils ont baoulé-ise le débat
Ils ont dioula-ise le débat
126
There is blood on the road
That leads to the tower of power
There is innocent blood
The opposition parties are saying
the same thing
For the same cause
In this face-off
The people find themselves
confronting the people
And the people will massacre the
people in the name of the people
The opposition parties
Agree that they will never agree
Radical opposition
Radical ruling party
The verb becomes unfriendly
And democracy becomes tribal
They have Bété-ized the debate
They have Baoulé-ized the debate
They have Dioula-ized the debate
Anne Schumann
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Les querelles de la personne
mettent en péril la république
La désinformation intoxique
l’opinion publique
Page 127
Personal quarrels put the republic
in danger
Disinformation poisons public
opinion
Thus, following Houphouët-Boigny’s legacy of ethnic and regional balancing and alliances, Bédié de-legitimized his own regime in his attempt to
undercut the legitimacy of his rivals. Both ‘the FPI and the RDR were
increasingly being forced into representing single ethnic groups, and elites
in both parties began to use this to their advantage’ (Collett 2006: 624).
Furthermore, none of the parties distinguished itself through a thorough
debate on an economic programme to alleviate the country’s economic crisis;
instead they became increasingly entrenched in their ethno-regional
positions.10 As zouglou singer Soum Bill remarked in ‘Nos problèmes’ (‘Our
problems’):
Malgré tout nos problèmes,
Nos leaders on choisi de descendre dans la poubelle …
Pendant que notre misère
grandit
On est à la recherche de notre
ivoirité …
In spite of all our problems
Our leaders have chosen to
descend into the rubbish bin
While our misery grows
We are searching for our Ivoirité
On 24 December 1999, General Robert Gueï overthrew Bédié, stating that
he had no presidential ambitions and promising to organize free elections
in 2000, since Bédié had blocked this process. However, by 2000, he had
formed his own political party, the Union for Peace and Democracy in Côte
d’Ivoire – Union pour la démocratie et la paix en Côte d’Ivoire – (UDPCI),
and was standing for election. The constitutional court again excluded
Ouattara on the ground of his doubtful nationality, as well as all of the
PDCI candidates. Before the votes were fully counted, Gueï declared himself
president. Mass demonstrations ensued and Gueï fled the country, as he no
longer had support from the army, since many of those who had supported
his coup felt deceived after Gueï started using the same rhetoric of Ivoirité that
he had previously criticized. Gbagbo was then declared president. However,
Ouattara’s supporters protested, calling for new elections. Two days of severe
violence between FPI and RDR supporters followed, and soon developed
into a north–south ethno-regional conflict, as the effects of the previous
years of divisive politics became evident. Ouattara and Gbagbo issued a
simultaneous call for peace to restore order in the country and to prevent
the immediate outbreak of a civil war (Banégas and Losch 2002: 150).
Again, the observations by both reggae and zouglou artists are discerning.
Fakoly remarks ‘Politicians […] light the fire, activate it, and later play at
extinguishing it’ (‘Les hommes politiques …allument le feu, ils l’activent, et après
ils viennent jouer au pompier’) in the song ‘On a tout comprisi’ (‘We’ve understood everything’). Similarly, in the song ‘Bledji’, zouglou singer Soum Bill
points out the paradox of the circumstances ‘When those who divided us,
are the same ones who now want to reconcile us’ (‘Quand c’est eux qui nous
ont divisé, c’est encore eux qui veulent nous reconcilier’).
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
127
10. That said, there
are nevertheless
ideological differences
between the parties.
The RDR has a
rightist orientation,
and was initially
created in support of
Ouattara’s economic
policies. Ouattara was
responsible for the
implementation of the
structural adjustment
policies in the early
1990s, which partly
caused the student
protests. The FPI is
socialist in name and
has traditionally had
much support among
students.
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The 2002 rebellion and the civil war
As illustrated above, zouglou artists denounced the political use of Ivoirité. In
fact, the identification of zouglou with a non-ethnic Ivorian identity goes
beyond apparent song texts. Yacouba Konaté notes that, as an urban music,
zouglou is not referable to a particular portion of the national space, and not
associated with any particular region or ethnic group. It is a national music
in the sense that this music was born in Côte d’Ivoire and is internationally
recognized as Ivorian. Thus, a national music can be non-ethnic, nontraditional and not associated with a particular religion (Konaté 2002:
791–792). However, after the outbreak of civil war in 2002, new themes
have emerged in zouglou. In compilations that have been termed ‘patriotic
albums’, many well-known artists have been expressing patriotism of the kind
that is associated with Gbagbo’s government and the Alliance of Young
Patriots. Zouglou artists have been depicting a partial portrayal of the conflict
and, consequently, the music is increasingly associated with the southern
region of the country. Eddie, Deza XXL and Kley Saley, for example, have
formed a group called Les Loyalistes. They addressed the rebels thus in ‘À nous
la victoire’ (‘Victory is ours’):
Vous pouvez encore vous
ressaisir, les gars
Déposer les armes avant d’y être
forcés,
À vous de choisir.
En voulant nous diviser
Vous avez réussi au contraire à
nous rapprocher
Tant le respect de la constitution
est devenu
Pour tout Ivoirien une priorité...
Assaillants, terroristes, dehors !
You can still recover, guys,
So put down your weapons before
being forced,
It’s your choice.
Wanting to divide us
You succeeded in bringing us
together.
The respect for the constitution
has become
A priority for all Ivorians …
Attackers, terrorists, out!
The popular singer Gadji Celi dedicated nearly the entirety of his most
recent album Special 19 Septembre 2002/La paix (19 September 2002 Special –
Peace) to the civil war. Additionally, the national broadcasting service,
Ivorian Radio-Television – Radio Télévision Ivoirien – (RTI), produced ten
versions of the song ‘Ode à la patrie’ (‘Ode to the country’) (Solo 2003: 127).
Another group including the well-known Petit Yodé, Soum Bill and
Pat Saco, among others, called themselves Haut les Cœurs, referring to the
legendary slogan that concluded the media statements of lieutenant colonel
Yao Yao Jules, spokesman of the National Armed Forces (Forces Armées
Nationales) (Solo 2003: 127). Using fragments of the Abidjanaise, the
national anthem, this group composed ‘Libérez mon pays’ (‘Free my country’),
a call to ‘free’ Côte d’Ivoire. Even though this song is presented as an appeal
for peace and unity, it nevertheless includes xenophobic lyrics:
Je te salue ô terre d’espérance,
pays d’espoir, pays hospitalier…
On aime bien les étrangers, mais
à la fin on se préfère …
128
I salute you, oh country of hope,
country of hospitality
We like foreigners, but in the end
we prefer each other
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Notre hospitalité nous impose
l’amour des étrangers,
Mais, maman, méfions-nous de
gens étranges
Page 129
Our hospitality imposes the love of
foreigners on us
But mama, let’s be wary of these
strange people
11. Gadji Celi does not
sing zouglou per se,
but a style mixing
Congolese and Bété
musical styles.
The portrayal of Côte d’Ivoire as a country of hospitality that is abused for
its openness and attacked out of envy is frequent in zouglou songs and in
the portrayal of the conflict in other popular discourses, for example at the
parlements and agoras in many quarters of Abidjan (Banégas 2007). ‘In the
regime’s eyes, it had done nothing to deserve this “unjust war” and has
persistently projected the image through its media and public discourses of
an Ivorian “people” assailed from all sides’ (Marshall-Fratani 2006: 35).
Below are two examples of such a perception of the conflict in two popular
zouglou songs:11
Je ne reconnais plus ma patrie,
oh jolie Côte d’Ivoire
Aujourd’hui victime, victime de
ces manipulations
Aujourd’hui victime, victime
pour sa prospérité …
Aujourd’hui victime, victime de
grande jalousie
I no longer recognize my country,
oh beautiful Côte d’Ivoire
It is today a victim of these
manipulations
It is today a victim of its prosperity
It is today a victim of great envy
(NCM, ‘Pourquoi nous?’ – ‘Why us ?’)
Le pays le plus fréquenté
Le pays le plus accusé
Il est plein d’hospitalité
C’est pour ça il est critiqué
Il est provoqué
Le pays le plus convoité.
The most frequented country
The most accused country
It is full of hospitality
And for this it is criticized
It is provoked
The most desired country
(Gadji Celi, ‘Ne touchez pas à mon pays’ – ‘Don’t touch my country’)
Relations with the Gbagbo government
Another recurrent theme is that of politicians profiting from the conflict to
the detriment of the population. BBC correspondent Joan Baxter observed, for
example, that Guillaume Soro went from relative obscurity to driving through
Bouaké in a Mercedes as though he was its president.12 Ibrahim Padjofê,
the ‘repentant rebel’, remarked in his account published in the newspaper
Fraternité Matin on 10 March 2003 that ‘I would like to say here that none
of the leaders of the rebellion which aggrieves our country has ever put
their feet on the war front, nor led a troop during combat.’13 In the song
examples below, political leaders are charged with using the conflict to
further their interests while being the first to flee the war that they have
created.
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
129
12. BBC ‘Ivory Coast’s
charming rebel’
by Joan Baxter at
http://news.bbc.co.
uk/1/hi/world/africa/
2793729.stm
13. Open letter by
Ibrahim Padjofê.
‘J’aime mon pays
et j’ai décidé de ne
plus le tuer’, in
Fraternité Matin,
10 March 2003.
Original text: Je
voudrais dire ici
qu’aucun des chefs de la
rébellion qui endeuille
le pays n’a jamais mis
les pieds sur une front
de guerre, ni conduit
une troupe au cours
d’un combat.
JAMS_1.1_10_Schumann.qxd
14. Pat Saco and Valery
of Espoir 2000
interviewed by
Patrick Méka,
Le Front, 10 January
2007. Original text:
Non ! Nous n’en savons
rien. Pat Saco et ses
camarades n’ont pas
signé de contrat avec
des leaders politiques.
Ce n’est pas pour de
l’argent qu’ils ont
chanté. Le pays est
attaqué donc en tant que
fils de ce pays, ils ont
pris le micro pour
chanter.
15. Petit Yodé interviewed
by José Téti, Declic
Magazine, 24 August
2006. Original text:
Est-ce donc vrai que
vous n’avez jamais rien
reçu du pouvoir comme
l’a dit Pat Saco? Rien de
qui que ce soit.
16. However, even
without direct financial compensation by
the authorities, the
benefits of participating in ‘patriotic songs’
included, for example,
extensive airplay on
state media.
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À vous nos hommes politiques,
Le pays n’est pas la boutique
Où on vient acheter les articles.
À cause de vos intérêts,
Des enfants meurent sur le terrain,
On ne fait que les enterrer.
Si vous laissez nos pauvres
parents,
Ils sont innocents,
Je vous ferez tous président.
To you our politicians
The country is not a shop
Where you go to buy things
Because of your interests
Children are dying
We do nothing but bury them
If you leave our poor parents
They are innocent
I would make you all president
(Gadji Celi, ‘Ne touchez pas à mon pays’ – ‘Don’t touch my country’)
Mon vieux père Gohou, c’est toi
qui avais raison
Les vrais bourreaux de l’Afrique,
ce sont les Africains
Ils commencent la guerre et sont
les premiers à fuir
Parce qu’ils ont des constructions sur les Côtes d’Azur
Mais nous on est là parce qu’on
a des constructions
Sur le mont Korhogo et les dents
de Man
My old father Gohou, you were
right
The true executioners of Africa are
Africans
They start war and are the first
ones to flee
Because they have buildings on the
Côtes d’Azur
But we are here because we have
buildings
On the Korhogo mount and in
Man
(NCM, ‘Pourquoi nous?’ – ‘Why us ?’)
However, these allegations of using the conflict for personal gain do not
stop at political leaders. Artists are also accused of being ventriotes (a fusion
between la politique du ventre and patriotes) (Banégas 2006: 544), i.e. of
profiting financially from their self-identification as patriots. It is widely
assumed that musicians are amply financially rewarded for their services
(Solo 2003: 126). Musicians deny this allegation. Pat Saco and Valery,
interviewed on this matter exclaim ‘No, we know nothing about this!
Pat Saco and his friends haven’t signed a contract with politicians. They
didn’t sing for money. The country was attacked, and as sons of the country
they took their microphones to sing.’14 In another interview, Petit Yodé
responded to the following question: ‘is it true that you have never received
anything from the government, just as Pat Saco said?’, with, ‘Nothing at
all.’15 Therefore, while there may have been a general expectation that singers
would be rewarded for their political support, the supposition that antigovernment music is inspired by genuine feeling and that pro-government
music is financially motivated does not necessarily hold.16
The post-September 2002 dynamics of reggae show that there is not
one political ‘position’ in this genre and that, in fact, it is to a great extent
determined by the individual positions and trajectories of artists. Fakoly,
for example, has fled the country and now lives in exile in Mali. He is
accused of supporting the rebellion and the Forces Nouvelles. He was,
however, very critical of Gbagbo, holding him responsible for the outbreak
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of civil war in the song ‘Quitte le pouvoir’ (‘Quit power’), since Gbagbo accepted
the presidency under, in his own words, ‘calamitous conditions’, rather than
organizing new elections.
Quitte le pouvoir, je te dis quitte
le pouvoir !
Je t’avais prévenu que tu as été
mal élu,
Mais tu t’es accroché, aujourd’hui tout est gâté
Quit power, I tell you to quit power!
I warned you that you were badly
elected
But you stuck to power, today all is
spoilt
18. John Jay in the
newspaper Le Patriote,
16 February 2007.
However, Fakoly’s position cannot be extended to represent reggae artists as
a whole. Since the outbreak of conflict, the relationship between himself
and fellow reggae singer Serge Kassy has been quite confrontational.17 Kassy
has often been referred to as the number two of the ‘Alliance of Young
Patriots’, and has received much media attention in this capacity. However,
Kassy is also accused of being a patriote alimentaire and of profiting from the
conflict to boost his failing musical career.18 Thus, the accusation of being a
ventriote is not exclusive to zouglou stars, and in fact not exclusive to singers:
it is a claim directed at many leaders of the ‘patriotic galaxy’ in Abidjan.
Blondy has taken a reconciliatory stance, and was nominated peace ambassador by the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire.
Gbagbo, perhaps aware that the erosion of the legitimacy of Bédié’s
government was possibly accelerated through popular music, enrolled artists
in his support. According to Raoul Blé, loyalist politicians were delighted
about the contribution of zouglou music in resistance to the rebellion, since
the songs were successful in rousing public opinion. Gbagbo’s government
was able to recover legitimacy by using the airwaves of state media to continuously broadcast messages in favour of the government, which had been
weakened by the crisis of September 2002 (Blé 2006: 180). Therefore, while
zouglou presented itself as resistance music against the Forces Nouvelles, it has
nonetheless supported the government.
Conclusion
To understand political developments in Côte d’Ivoire, it is essential not
just to analyse political developments but also to understand popular
cultural conceptualization of political issues. In West Africa, popular
music can function as a means of mass communication and its themes
can reflect and contribute to the formation of public opinion. In Côte d’Ivoire,
popular music genres such as reggae and zouglou have served as a
domain for the articulation of ideas about politicians, corruption, citizenship, national history and identity. Ideological positions in Ivorian
music have varied over time and across genres, and a category such as
protest music is ill suited to fully capture its dimensions. These dynamics
in popular Ivorian music also demonstrate the inadequacy of trying
to understand postcolonial power relations between the rulers and the
ruled through what Achille Mbembe describes as ‘the binary categories
used in standard interpretations of domination’ (in Nyairo and Ogude
2005: 246).
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
17. The open letter
from Serges Kassy
to Tiken Jah Fakoly
as published in the
newspaper Notre Voie,
on 16 November
2005, provides an
example of their
differences.
131
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Works cited
À nous la victoire – Les Loyalistes
Bledji – Soum Bill
Bouche B – Les Salopards
Course au pouvoir – Alpha Blondy
Gblogblo Koffi – Didier Bilé
Génération sacrifiée – Les Salpoards
Libérez mon pays – Haut les cœurs
La mère patrie – Gadji Celi
Multipartisme – Alpha Blondy
Nationalité – Tiken Jah Fakoly
Ne touchez pas à mon pays – Gadji Celi
Nos problèmes – Soum Bill
Ode à la patrie – RTI (Radio Television Ivoirien)
On a tout compris – Tiken Jah Fakoly
Plus jamais ça – Tiken Jah Fakoly
Pourquoi nous ? – NCM
Quitte le pouvoir – Tiken Jah Fakoly
Tu sais qui je suis – Poussins Chocs (Petit Yodé et L’Enfant Siro)
Suggested citation
Schumann, A. (2009), ‘Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire: the
divergent dynamics of zouglou and reggae’, Journal of African Media Studies 1: 1,
pp. 117–133, doi: 10.1386/jams.1.1.117/1
Contributor details
Anne Schumann is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Oriental and African Studies
at the University of London.
E-mail: [email protected]
Popular music and political change in Côte d’Ivoire
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