Meiway is arguably the most popular musician in Cote d’Ivoire over the past twenty years or more. He is the originator of a style of music called zoblazo, which is a high-energy dance mix heavy on synths, but with echoes of tradtional rhythms from south-eastern Cote d’Ivoire. With his exceptionally tight band Zo Gang, Meiway’s live performances are a lesson in controlled collective effervescence.
Meiway is from the coastal area of Bassam, the lagoon region stretching east from Abidjan into western Ghana, and home to the Akan ethnic group, and specifically in Meiway’s case the Apollo or N’Zema sub-group (an identity he shares with Kwame Nkrumah)
The above clip is interesting to me in the way it visually references the traditional rhythms and style underpinning Meiway’s music, despite the highly synthesized sounds and modern, congolese-esque attitude. Meiway’s most recent album is entitled 9ème Commandement –900% zoblazo and was released in 2006.
Interestingly, there is a tradition in this region of dancing in a procession with handkerchiefs (les mouchoirs!) and umbrellas, often to a brass accompaniment. It’s referred to as fanfare in Cote d’Ivoire, but it looks suspiciously like processions you see in the streets of New Orleans today (if you click the link, start around 2mins for a bit of les mouchoirs)…