Konan Antoinette: Antoinette Konan

It makes sense that Antoinette Konans eponymous album features nothing more than her ahoko on the cover. The deceptively simple traditional percussion instrument transformed Ivory Coasts Baoul music scene when Konan deployed it against a roaring electrified backdrop of synth bass guitar and drum machines. Released in 1986 the album is a veritable UFO of instrumental force and contemporary pop sensibility landing in a boiling pot of diverse creative characters inhabiting Abidjan Ivory Coast Cte dIvoire. Known as the Queen of the Ahoko among Ivorians Konan single- handedly put the central-Ivorian instrument on the map when she gave it a 20th-century re-introduction. The three-piece wooden idiophone is handmade from a thin ribbed flexible stick against which a smaller chunk of wood is rhythmically scraped. A hollow nutshell held in the non-scraping hand amplifies and manipulates the resulting overtones. Despite the ahokos diminutive appearance Konan and her powerful voice have remained at the forefront of Ivorian music for decades now in an extremely diverse country-approximately 70 indigenous languages-with a competitive internationally-recognized music industry. Music plays an important role in Baoul cultural life heard and seen in festivities funerals and more. They are the largest ethnic group in Cte dIvoire and descend from Akan peoples who migrated from present- day central Ghana. Baoul vocal music is characterized by polyphony melodies built on parallel thirds and call-and-response. All of this can be heard in Konans music. Konans fingerprints are all over Antoinette Konan she says as it was meant to be a highly personal recording. She wanted to portray the suffering injustice frustrations humiliations personal career struggles experience of child birth and poverty she sees in society. Taking on the producer role for the first time Konan was the architect of her dancefloor-ready neo-traditional sound. But crucial to the recording was arranger Bamba Moussa Yang. A creative and versatile musical mind who was known for his work with legendary Ivorian singer Ernesto Djedje Konan met him in 1986 after she had already released two albums. Yang brought a touch that matched Konans expectations she says because he knew her work so well. As she reflects on her long career today Konan remembers Yang as her favorite arranger. Over the years Konans popularity grew to the upper echelons of Ivorian society: Ivory Coasts first president Felix Houphouet Boignys would regularly invite Konan to perform at official ceremonies with foreign dignitaries. Through her charity and advocacy work on behalf of female musicians Konan is still a force in the countrys music community. You can see her performing or speaking on television and around the country all the time-yet she still maintains several entrepreneurial projects in the farming sector. Konan has recorded more than 15 albums so far and plans more recordings soon.

1.1 Kokoloko Tani
1.2 Mack
1.3 Enfants Du Monde Version Baoul
1.4 Abidjan Adja
1.5 Evignen
1.6 Yal


H 0.11
W 12.22
L 12.29