It’s Friday night, Abidjan is steaming, and we’re headed to the Rue Princesse. Numerous ‘maquis’ (outdoor bars) line up one of West Africa’s most notorious party spots. The place is booming with coupé décalé and zouglou beats, the voices of Kedjevara, Menza, Les Patrons or DJ Bonano mingling with shouts, laughter, cars honking and street vendors vending! There’s usually no dancefloor at most maquis’, when people feel like dancing, they get up and dance right where they are, standing or at their table.
A Maquis in Yopougon’s Rue Princesse (Abidjan, Ivory Coast)
I had a chat with Lloyd today, half of Sierra Leonian duo Eden Roots lIberation. We chat about music and how he became a musician. Here are some of his words:
“From the very begining, I loved music, in particular reggae music. I was also living with musicians. When I was looking at them playing, I wanted to be able to do the same. In the same time I was learning to play bass, I began creating my own songs and singing them. It was something obvious for me. I was here to be a musician, a composer and a singer.”
Growing up in Sierra Leone, Lloyd was subject to many new world influences, in particular Caribbean music:
“My most important inspiration comes from Joseph Hill from the Jamaican group Culture, who died recently. They came to Sierra Leone and I saw their concert in Freetown, it was a big moment. I was also inspired by Don Carlos, who was a member of the 12 tribes and who taught me to play music.”
Eden Roots Liberation now has an album under their belt, they’ve been playing consistently throughout West Africa and are eager to spread their message of awareness – as in the song “Open your eyes”, peace and love, especially for the younger generations. Lloyd hopes to play and push his message as far as the US, especially “because the reggae doesn’t seem to be very popular [there]”.
