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Musical career[edit]

After various TV shows for Kassi, Blondy recorded his first solo album in 1982, entitled Jah Glory. This album was to have enormous success and would become later a symbol of resistance because of the song "Brigadier Sabari," which documents his experience of being arrested in Abidjan in the 1980s and his subsequent mistreatment by the police.^[4] Alpha Blondy became a big star in Abidjan with his own African twist of Reggae music, becoming in the eyes of his fans "the Bob Marley of Africa".^[5] Alpha Blondy is spiritual, political and positive just like Marley himself, and even recorded a cover of Bob Marley's song "War". In order to reach more people with his message, he chose to sing in many languages: English, French, Baoulé, and his native language – Dioula.^[5] Later, he also brought new instrumentation to his brand of reggae such as the violin and cello.

Soon, the fame of Alpha Blondy spread to Europe. Following the success of an EP entitled Rasta Poué, he went to Paris in 1984 to make his second album, Cocody Rock, with the label Pathe Marconi. The "Bob Marley of Africa" travelled to the island of Jamaica and recorded the title track of this album with Marley’s backing group, The Wailers.

Back home in 1985, Blondy went into the studio to record "Apartheid is Nazism", a call for the end of Apartheid. In 1986, he recorded “Jerusalem” at the Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica, again with The Wailers featuring Bob Marley's legendary Aston "Family Man" Barrett. Blondy tried to promote unity between the religion of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. He drew his arguments and inspiration from his own diverse knowledge of the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah. That same year, he sang in Hebrew during a concert inMorocco. At this point, he was touring continuously. His new album Revolution had a lighter, gentler sound; this was the album with cellos in the instrumentation, and the line-up included veteran Côte d'Ivoirian singer Aicha Kone. The album also included "Jah Houphouët parle", a long speech by Côte d'Ivoire president Félix Houphouët-Boigny with only the most minimal beat behind it.

Blondy spent the years 1987–89 giving concerts and recording SOS Guerre Tribale in Abidjan. This was promoted by Blondy himself, as he was distancing himself from Pathe Marconi at this stage. This was not to be a real success but it did not deter Blondy and in 1991 he returned to Europe for a concert tour and to record his famous album Masada with the help of musical legends such as Bocana Maiga and UK reggae producer Dennis Bovell. The album, with its hit single "Rendez Vous", was a huge success, and Blondy was later to receive his first Gold Disc in Paris.

At the beginning of 1993, worn out from a world tour, Blondy succumbed to depression and was taken into an institution for psychiatric help. But as his health recovered he recorded the album Dieu ("God"), on which he appears more spiritual and religious, on tracks such as "Heal Me", about his illness and recovery.

Blondy's psychiatric treatment continued but on 10 December 1994, he was back with the festival in memory of President Houphouet, and later he made his European comeback at a storming concert at Le Zenith in Paris. In 1996, Blondy released a hits compilation and went back into the studio to record the album Grand Bassam Zion, singing in six languages: Malinke, Arabic, French, English, Ashanti and Wolof.

After two more years in Paris, Blondy returned to his homeland in 1998, with a new album, The Prophet. Convinced his label was too much focused on the international market, he decided to create his own label. Since then he has recorded albums and singles, such as "Yitzhak Rabin", in memory of the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated in 1995 (this was accompanied by yet another grueling tour of Europe), the single "Journaliste en Danger" from his 2000 album Elohim.^[3]

Alpha Blondy celebrated 20 years as a recording artist with the release in 2002 of his CD MERCI, featuring Ophelie Winter and Saian Supa Crew, which earned him a 2003 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Reggae Album". However, due to the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), he was unable to personally attend the award ceremony in New York City. In an unprecedented move, the Grammy Awards permitted him to send a representative in his place of honour. ^[6] In 2005 Akwaba was released. His CD Jah Victory was released July 2007. It features Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, as well as Tyrone Downie formerly of Bob Marley and the Wailers. "Victory" is in honor of the peace agreement that was reached and implemented in his country in March 2007.^[7]

One of Blondy's most popular and successful songs was "Sébé Allah Y'é".

On 19 July 2009, Blondy performed at New York's Central Park before a crowd of many native Africans, Jamaicans, and Americans.

On 13 June 2010, a large crowd was allowed into a Blondy concert in the Côte d'Ivoire to celebrate the peace and unity of the country. Ironically, overcrowded conditions at the concert resulted in at least 20 people being injured, two of whom died.^[8]

On 27 June 2010, Alpha Blondy was the closing act at Parkpop, The Hague, Netherlands. He replaced Snoop Dogg and Beenie Man.

Blondy has also been an important influence on other African reggae artists such as Ismaël Isaac.^[9]

In November 2014 singer/songwriter Jonathan Wilson released an EP called Slide By featuring the song "Alpha Blondy Was King".

Released in January 2015, the Roots Reggae Library featured an edition on Alpha Blondy with interpretations and translations of songs in all languages, including those in Dioula.^[10]

Faith[edit]

Alpha Blondy was born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother, and was brought up by a grandmother "who taught him to love everyone".^[5] Blondy's respect for all religions and the spirituality he derives from them can be heard on the tracks “God is One” or “Jerusalem” where he sang for unity between all religions in 1986.