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Alpha Blondy in pictures and photos, There are 15 pictures in this album

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Alpha Blondy Page: 1 2

Music reggae singer Alpha Blondy pictures (pic) and photo gallery, albums covers pictures. Birth name: Seydou Kone. Born: January 1, 1953 in Dimbokoro, Cote d'Ivoire. Alpha Blondy is an Ivoirian reggae singer and a major music star in West Africa. Alpha Blondy sings mainly in Dioula, French and English, but also sometimes in Arabic or Hebrew. His lyrics denote strong political attitude and humor. In particular he coined the (French) term "democrature" (which translates as "democratorship") to qualify some African governments. he is also known as "jagger". First son of a family of nine children, Seydou Kone was born in Dimbokro in 1953. Raised by his grandmother, growing up in what he described as "among elders", which - later - was to have a big impact on his career. In 1962, Alpha Blondy went to join his father in Odienne, where he spent ten years, attending the Sainte Elisabeth high school, and getting involved in the Ivory Coast students movement. Here he formed a band. However, this hobby affected his schooling and Alpha Blondy was expelled from school due to poor attendance. His parents then sent him to study English in Monrovia a major city in the neighbouring country of Liberia in 1973. He spent thirteen months there and then moved to the United States of America to improve his English further. In 1973 Seydou moved to New York (and briefly Texas), attending language classes for over two years. He had to work very hard part-time, and sometimes at night, to survive and became ill. In New York he met Rastafarians for the first time, and was also able to see concerts by Jamaican artists such as Burning Spear. At this time he was recording Christian music but never stopped writing his own songs. Eventually he got into various scrapes in New York and returned to the Ivory Coast, where he got into even more trouble until he met up with one of his childhood friends, Fulgence Kassi, who had become a famous television producer. This was the beginning of his real career as a singer, using the name 'Alpha Blondy'. After various TV shows for Kassi, Blondy recorded his first solo album in 1983, entitled 'Jah Glory'. This album was to have enormous success and would become later a symbol of resistance because of the song 'Brigadier Sabari', where Alpha criticised the harassment of the police. Some of this was based on personal experience as Alpha had seen police violence himself. Alpha Blondy became a big star in Abidjan with his own African twist of Reggae music, becoming in the eyes of his fans 'the Bob Marley of West Africa'. Alpha Blondy is spiritual, political and positive just like Marley himself. And he doesn't stop progressing; in order to reach more people with his message, he chose to sing in many languages: English, French, Baoule, and his own 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. Following the success of an EP entitled “Rasta Pou” he went to Paris in 1984 to make his second album, 'Cocody Rock' with the label Pathe Marconi. The 'Bob Marley of West Africa' was to record the title track of this album with Marley’s backing group: The Wailers. Back home in 1985, Alpha went into the studio to record 'Apartheid is Nazism'. This album was more politically committed than ever. It is a call for the end of Apartheid and the freedom for all. In 1986 Blondy recorded "Jerusalem" at the legendary Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica, again with The Wailers. 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, Blondy sang in Hebrew during a concert in Morocco. At this point he was touring continuously. His new album 'Revolution' had a lighter, gentler sound; this was the album with 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 the Ivory Coast president with only the most minimal beat behind it. Blondy spent the years 1987–1989 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 this wasn't going to stop Blondy and in 1991 he returned to Europe for a concert tour and to record his famous album: 'Massada' with the help of musical legends such as Bocana Maiga and UK reggae producer Denis Bovell. The album, with its hit single 'Rendez Vous' was a huge success, and later, Blondy was 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'), where 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, Blondy was back with the festival in memory of the late President Houphouet, and later he made his European comeback at a storming concert at Le Zenith in Paris. In 1996, Blondy released a hits compilation and went back into the studio to record the album 'Grand Bassam Zioin', 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 much focused on the international market, he decided to create his own label. Since then Alpha 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 yet another grueling tour of Europe), the single 'Journaliste en Danger' the album 'Elohim' in 2000, and 'Merci' in 2002, and another featuring Ophelie Winter and Saian Supa Crew. His latest album, released in 2005, is entitled 'Akwaba'

Alpha Blondy - Apartheid is Nazism album cover By User: colonelrusty 6 Votes, 4.66/5 Alpha Blondy - Cocody Rock album cover By User: colonelrusty 0 Votes, 0/5 Alpha Blondy - Masada album cover By User: colonelrusty 2 Votes, 4.5/5 Alpha Blondy - Yitzhak Rabin album cover By User: colonelrusty 3 Votes, 5/5 Alpha Blondy - SOS Guerres Tribales album cover By User: colonelrusty 0 Votes, 0/5 Alpha Blondy - Paris Bercy album cover By User: colonelrusty 3 Votes, 4/5 Alpha Blondy - Live Au Zenith album cover By User: colonelrusty 1 Votes, 2/5 Alpha Blondy - Elohim album cover By User: colonelrusty 5 Votes, 4/5 Alpha Blondy - Merci album cover By User: colonelrusty 6 Votes, 4.16/5 Alpha Blondy - Jerusalem album cover By User: shiftingjoe 4 Votes, 5/5

There are 15 pictures of Alpha Blondy, on 2 pages (you are on page 1), use the numbers at the top for more Alpha Blondy pictures and photos, If you have more pics for this album, Please add them and mention Alpha Blondy anywhere in the title of the picture or in its description so we can pick it up and put it in this album