MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Ernesto Djedje was one of the most innovative and successful artists Cote d‘Ivoire has ever produced
(L to R) Ernesto Djedje in 1977; Statue of Djedje at the entrance of Insaac (school of Arts) Cocody, Abidjan
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
A RISING star in the 1960s, when he became the guitar player and leader of the group Ivoiro Star, Ernesto Djedje set out to modernise Ivorian music and popularised the ziglibithy style of music, a pulsating hot mix of makossa and funk.
In 1968 he headed for Paris to record his first singles, arranged and produced by Manu Dibango and influenced by US soul, the music of Cameroon and Zaire as well as traditional Ivorian music.
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