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Wednesday 16 June 2010

He Did It His Way

As we eagerly await what hopefully will be a resounding victory for Bafana Bafana over Uruguay tonight, let us first pay tribute to the Indomitable Lions of Cote d'Ivoire, who yesterday achieved a thrilling bore draw with Portugal.

Meiway is an eminent Ivorian musician, the creator and leading exponent of a musical style known as "zoblazo", which is described on the RFI Musique website as follows:

"A mix of different folklore from the southern Ivory Coast, Zoblazo has a dance rhythm with a percussion base. Meiway was influenced by his own ethnic group the N'Zema (also called Appolo), but also by numerous other styles from the Ivory Coast or neighbouring countries such as Ghana. This original musical synthesis is made up of modern sounds and is danced to with a white handkerchief as a sign of joy and purity."

Today's selections come from his fourth album, 1995's "Appolo 95 (400% Zoblazo)". We have the title track, which I assume is a tribute to his ethnic group, and "Astrid", a tribute to his daughter. All in all, an album chock a block with tributes.

"Appolo 95" - Meiway (1995)

"Astrid" - Meiway (1995)

I scoured YouTube for clips of people dancing with white handkerchieves, and you will be delighted to know I found one. Let the joy and purity begin!

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