RFI Musique - - African reggae - Alpha Blondy licks his wounds

Alpha Blondy licks his wounds

Vision, album therapy for the Ivoirian singer

Paris

06/04/2011 -

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.

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RFI Musique: You’ve often commented on the Ivoirian situation in your albums, including your last one, Jah Victory. Why don’t you bring up the subject in Vision?
Alpha Blondy: It’s intentional. I wanted to give a bit of mind space. There have already been a lot of vehemently militant songs. It’s time to move on, but with a nod to the general situation in Côte d’Ivoire, Africa and around the world. The reason there is so much upheaval right now and this quest for freedom is because politicians have forgotten something crucial: to put people at the heart of their politics. Money is there for people and not the other way round.

How do you explain the bitterness and hard edge that come through on tracks like Tu mens, Ces soit-disant amis and Trop bon?
Like a hurt dog, I have wounds to lick. It’s the album’s therapeutic side. Psychologists say that you shouldn’t keep things deep inside, and I’ve found a strategy to recycle my pain. Instead of uselessly spending energy by getting irritated, I say things like this and transform the anger into a musical balm.

The members of the band that accompanies you on stage, and this time in the studio, have remained stable for several years, but that’s not always been the case. Do you feel as if you have found the team for you?
I think I have. When you play with the same people, you develop a musical complicity. I often say to them that I’m the trapeze artist and they’re the net. When I play live, whatever I try out, I know that I’ll fall on my feet because my musicians know my strong and weak points. They’ve also worked out a system to cover and protect each other and come to each other’s rescue.

The album was mainly thought up on the road. Does that way of working bring different results?
In any case, the experience allowed us to save some money and time in the studio and polish the details. Depending on the atmosphere, we added ideas or took them away. Because we were on tour, you can feel a live quality. My musicians were really courageous. You get off the plane, arrive at the hotel, eat something and then, instead of having a rest, you go into Alpha’s room, set up the microphones and keyboards, and off you go again. It gave us the time we needed to perfect the lyrics, make them more “singable”, ask the guitarist if he could find something better, etc. Sometimes we felt like playing the songs we were doing on stage, but we stuck to our guns and didn’t. We didn’t want to open up the project before it was ripe.

In Alpha Blondy, un combat pour la liberté, a documentary film about you that was recently broadcast, we see you on your first TV appearance singing the song Papa Bakoye, in 1981. What was the young Alpha thinking about when he stepped out before the cameras?
He had had so many dreams about that moment that, when it happened, he was full of hope. He couldn’t see the future at all, but he hoped that the moment he was living would last for a long time. He hoped that someone would help him make a record on day. He had it all in his head, as dreams.

Looking back, wasn’t your arrival on the Ivoirian scene something to do with those who had already prepared the field? People like Ernesto Djédjé, who had innovated a lot, offered a new sound, and who happened to die at the moment that your career was taking off?
We all take advantage of what others have built before us. Those who beat out the tracks were perhaps aiming at a dream that we go on to make happen. The first dream isn’t to be famous, but that your love for music can become a reality for the country or village you come from. I was lucky enough to do that. I really liked Djedjé and his music. I went to his funeral with Fulgence Kassy. He comes from Tahiraguhé, a village near Daloa.

The Italian singer, Alborosie and the German, Gentleman, two big names in European reggae with whom you will share the stage at the Zénith in Paris on 14 April, both often play your song Jerusalem. Would you say that this now classic track has had an impact that’s gone beyond you?
It’s true. You know what? God goes beyond us all. And when you start glorifying God, he reciprocates. On a whim, I decided to go to Israel. I’d been told that it was dangerous, but I still went. Alone. I discovered Jerusalem, which was mind blowing for the God lover that I am. To see so many spiritual truths in a single place strengthened my love. I can’t dissociate man and God. The song Jerusalem sprang from the spirit of the town of Jerusalem. I didn’t actually know that in synagogues, prayers start with “Baroukh Ata Adonaï”, which are also the first words of the song. God guided my words. He makes you say things and the explanation only comes later!