Zoblazo is a musical style from
Abidjan,
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 is ...
, created in the early 1990s. It is a cosmopolitan popular dance music with simple up-tempo rhythm and high tech instrumentation and contains a mixture of traditional dance rhythms from southern Côte d'Ivoire.
Zoblazo's best known exponent is
Freddy Meiway
Frederic Desire Ehui , best known as Meiway (born 17 March 1962 in Grand Bassam), is a singer from the Ivory Coast. He is most notable for pioneering the Zoblazo
Zoblazo is a musical style from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, created in the early 19 ...
, who has released a series of Zoblazo records starting in 1989 with the record "Ayibebou" with his group
Zo Gang. An ethnic
N'Zema from
Grand Bassam, Meiway integrated folk rhythms from Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana with and is danced to with a white handkerchief. From his second album in 1990 entitled ''200% Zoblazo'', Meiway became the second best known Ivorian and N'zema musician after
Alpha Blondy, and has released a steady stream records, the most recent ''9ème commandement –900% zoblazo'' released in 2007.
External links
RFI Musique: Meiway Biography January 2007.
Review Meiway - Golgotha (800% Zoblazo) Africa On Your Street, BBC.co.uk.
Meiway from Ivory Coast, JJC Reviews May 2006: Africa On Your Street, BBC.co.uk.
Ivorian styles of music
World music genres
Abidjan
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