Dobet Gnahoré (born 17 June 1982) is a singer from

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre ...

. The daughter of percussionist Boni Gnahoré, she plays with the group Na Afriki, consisting mainly of French and Tunisian musicians, who accompany her with the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, sanza, the

balafon The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now f ...

, the calebasse and

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

. Due to the civil war, she moved to France in 1999. In 2004, Gnahoré released her debut album ''Ano Neko''. In 2006, She was a nominee at the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music for Newcomer. In 2010, she shared an award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance with India.Arie at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

Early life

A self-taught musician, who incorporates elements of song, dance, percussion and theatre into her repertoire, she is the daughter of percussionist Boni Gnahoré, who performs with her and the sister of Kiff No Beat band member Black K. She settled in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

in 1999 due to the civil war.

Career

In France, Gnahoré met guitarist Colin Laroche de Féline and decided to form a band, Na Afriki. It consists of mainly French and Tunisian musicians, who accompany her with the sanza, the

, the calebasse and

. The group toured Congo, Gabon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea in the 2000s, and aspects of music from a number of African countries are evident, including Cameroonian

bikutsi Bikutsi is a musical genre from Cameroon. It developed from the traditional styles of the Beti, or Ewondo, people, who live around the city of Yaoundé. It was popular in the middle of the 20th century in West Africa. It is primarily dance music. ...

, Congolese, East African rumba and Manding music, alongside

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

. Her lyrics often deal with pressing social issues, including the importance of family and AIDS. She can sing in seven different languages. Her music ranges from "delicate ballads to upbeat African grooves". In 2004, ''Gnahoré'' released her debut album ''Ano Neko'' ('let's create together'). She was a nominee at the 2006 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music for Newcomer and in 2010 she shared an award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the song “Pearls” with India.Arie at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

Discography

Albums

* '' Ano Neko'', 2004 * '' Na Afriki'', 2007 * '' Djekpa La You'', 2010 * '' Na Drê'', 2014 * '' Miziki'', 2018 * '' Couleur'', 2021

References

External links

Dobet Gnahoré's websiteFacebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnahore, Dobet 21st-century Ivorian women singers Grammy Award winners 1982 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Marseille Ivorian emigrants to France 21st-century French women singers