Alpha Blondy (born 1 January, 1953)is a reggae singer and international recording artist. Alpha Blondy was born Seydou Koné in Dimbokro, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). He sings mainly in his native language of Dioula, in French and in English, and sometimes in Arabic or Hebrew. His lyrics convey serious political attitudes and a sense of humour
Childhood
First son of a family of 8 children, Seydou Koné was raised by his
grandmother, growing up in what he described as "among elders", which
later was to have a big impact on his career. In 1962, Alpha Blondy went
to join his father in Odienné,
where he spent ten years, attending the Sainte Elisabeth high school,
and getting involved in the Côte d'Ivoire students movement. Here he
formed a band. But, this hobby affected his schooling and Alpha Blondy
was expelled due to poor attendance. His parents then sent him to study
English in Monrovia in the neighbouring country of Liberia in 1973. He spent thirteen months there and then moved to the United States of America to improve his English
First stay in the USA
In 1973 Seydou moved to New York (also briefly Texas), where he studied English at Hunter College in New York, and later in the Columbia University
American Language Program. He majored in English because he wanted to
become an English teacher. He had to work part-time, and sometimes at
night, and became ill. In New York he met Rastafarians for the first time, and was also able to see concerts by Jamaican artists such as Burning Spear. At this time he was recording Christian music but never stopped writing his own songs. Eventually he got into various scrapes in New York and returned to the Côte d'Ivoire,
where he got into even more trouble until he met up with one of his
childhood friends, Fulgence Kassi, who had become a noted television
producer. This was the beginning of his real career as a singer, and he
began to use the name Alpha Blondy
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