Tiken Jah Fakoly

Ivorian reggae isn’t a genre of music that I feel I’ve been overly exposed to, but I thoroughly enjoy listening to it. When I had the opportunity to watch Tiken Jah Fakoly perform live, I jumped at the chance. The venue was huge and they’d really pulled out all the shops for the show. The costumes, lighting, backing singers choreography, and positioning of the band were all spot on, and I knew from the moment that they all walked out on stage that it was going to be a great show.
They opened with a lengthy instrumental number, where each instrumental section, the brass, drums, vocals, and guitars got their own solo. At the end of the largely improvised track, all of the musicians joined forces and played together, creating an incredible crescendo of sound. Fakoyly then went onto introduce the set, and they played Dernier Appel in its entirety, which was incredible to hear live.
His lyrics are famous, and although a lot of the lyrical content wasn’t in English, through his expressions and narrative skills, It was easy to depict the storyline. It was a fantastic show that I wish could have been just a little bit longer!