Tiken Jah Fakoly

 

 

by Romain (Dec 12, 2003)

 

francafrik.MP3   43 sec of France-Afrique  

Tiken Jah Fakoly is established as one of the figureheads of the reggae in Ivory coast. His songs deal with political and social problems in Africa.

He was born in 1968 in Odienné in Cote d Ivoire. As a young boy, he was very interested in music but he did not actually put his passion into practice until after his father’s death. At 20 years old Tiken learnt music with a Ghanaian guitarist by the name of Geoffrey and they recorded together their first demo tape. At this early stage of career Tiken preferred playing live to working in studios. 

He formed his first group, Djelys, around 1987 and had an exellent reputation on the local music scene. The following year, Djelys recruited a new member, a French guitarist called “Spank”.

Djelys were invited in the “Marlboro rockin” talent contest in 1993 and finished 4th out of 200 contestants.The group was quickly picked up on national radio and television.They recorded their first album called “Djelys”. Then Tiken Jah Fakoly made a coming back of the reggae and became a regular speaker at protests and political meetings in Africa.

But it was the huge success of “Mangercratie” released in 1996 that catapulted Tiken to success.  Tiken played his first concert in the French capital in March 1998. After this concert, he had a lot of invitations to appear in concerts in Paris and in the provinces. After the success of “Mangercratie”(500 000 copies were sold), Tiken flew off to Jamaica to record his new album entitled “Françafrique”. This album included new versions of Tiken’s songs such as “le pays va mal” or “y en a marre” with songs in French, English or Dioula. To promote this album, he embarked on a tour up in France.

 


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Cool!!!!! But the music is not long enough. And there are not enough pictures of him and not enough publicity of his CD! But congratulations, Rominou, for your article. It is a good subject!!! We thank you so much!!!!

Cilou and Soso (LAT, Blois)


This has got quite a reggae vibe. It was exquisite. Fine job, good chap. Is this the rave in France or what? It’s all about the techno. Suit up and get your robot on. (--- this is some slang for you, use it wisely....)

Thibaut Johnson (Petaluma, California, USA)


Hi ! I knew the group called Djelys. I enjoy seeing that Tiken made two solo albums. There are good lyrics , good vibes in Djelys songs. And I hope that it is the same in Tiken's songs . I think Tiken is like Yaniss Odua. They just tell the truth in a fantastic way .

An article on Yaniss Odua could be very interesting ;).

Axel (Nantes, France)


Yeah!! I discovered this singer last year .To my mind this album is very interesting with really good vibes. First I find the biography very clear and Tiken's discography is complete . Moreover, the mp3 file attached is a very nice song .

Cruz (Nantes, France)


Jan 17, 2006

I've loved reggae for a long time but I discovered this singer this year. He's a very good singer.

Thomas (Blois, YGTP)