FEBRUARY 11, 2012 5:47PM

Women Sing To Remember in Ivory Coast

Rate: 3 Flag

Here is a link to a guest post of mine on the magical, multifarious Afropop Blog. If you haven't yet met up with Afropop on the radio or the web, check it out. It's a goldmine for any and all  Africa-related music .

 My story is about a song that women market gardeners in the town of Korhogo wrote as a way of remembering the crisis they were living through last year at this time. And there's a sound file, so you can hear them sing it!

http://blog.afropop.org/2012/01/womens-songs-in-post-crisis-cote.html 

 

 

Author tags:

african music, korhogo, carol spindel, music, cote d'ivoire, ivory coast, women's music

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Interesting about the cocoa, as we have a lot of that here (very fine quality too) in Venezuela.

Beautiful singing.

The commenters really took you to task, I see! ;~) We would love to visit Nigeria someday to search Yoruba ancestry.
Inverted Interrobang
February 13, 2012 02:46 AM
The first comment doesn't bother me, but the second one highlights the divisions that still exist in Ivory Coast and that make reconciliation tough. Gbagbo's supporters still insist, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he won the election and was deposed by neo-colonial intervention from France, the UN, and the US. The commenter seems to think that history will exonerate one side -- his side.

I think it's more complicated than that. Both sides committed crimes and those responsible on both sides must be brought to justice. Unlike ordinary people, like the women singers, those in positions of power had choices -- Gbagbo had the most power and he has to take responsibility for the destructive path he chose.
Carol Spindel
February 13, 2012 10:29 AM
If you like the radio program, I also recommend the short documentaries on their website. Each one is about 50 minutes long and explains some aspect of Africa-related music. To find them, go to the Afropop website and click on Hip Deep.
Carol Spindel
February 13, 2012 11:41 AM