Ernesto Djédjé

Ernest Djédjé Blé was born in Daloa in 1947. Beginning his musical apprenticeship in Abidjan with Amédée Pierre's Ivoiro Star band, Djédjé traveled to Paris in the early 1970s to master modern studio production and arrange brass orchestration.

In 1977, he released the historic album Zikélo, launching 'Ziglibithy'—a revolutionary fusion of Bété village rhythms, funk baselines, and syncopated horns accompanied by his trademark airborne dance moves. Crowned artist of the year across West Africa, his sudden death at age thirty-six plunged the nation into collective mourning.