Alpha Blondy

Alpha Blondy (born 1953) is a reggae singer, born Seydou Kone in Dimbokoro, Côte d'Ivoire. He is considered as a major star in West Africa. He studied English at Hunter College in New York, and later in the Columbia University American Language Program. He sings in mainly Dioula, French and English, but also sometimes in Arabic or Hebrew. His lyrics denotes strong political attitude and humor. He invented the word of "democrature" (it traduced as "democratorship") to qualify some African governments.

First success "Brigadier Sabary".

Some representative songs are:

• "Apartheid is Nazism"
• "Brigadier Sabary" satirical lyrics about police brutality.
• "Guerre Civile" about civil war
• "Jerusalem" about Israel contains some lyrics in Hebrew
• "Journalistes en danger" about the assassination of Norbert Zongo
• "Politiqui" about civilian / military government alternance
• "Yitzhak Rabin"