Jess Sah Bi & Peter One — Minmanle? (Musique Ivoirienne)

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"Minmanle?" lyrics in Gouro & English translation below:

(Gouro)
Minmanlé tchanzan tchi?
Minmanlé fêhizan tchié zi o?
Hanle wile hanli yé
Hankazou Dohalo
Minmanle mihé tchibê o mi dja
Minmanlé mifa djika doulo
Yee wiyo hanli yé
Hankazou dohalo

Yéé hanlé wile ylé wile
Bêdji droha handji o
Mi gonin o kadan zoulo
Bolou tchizé wile
Bali zé wilé
Debe fihé o hévozilê
Bolou lé bé o
Y vohaman trêta

(English)
Why the poor?
Why the rich?
That yes that
I don't understand a thing
Why do we kill our neighbor?
Why don't men get along
That yes that
Oh, father, I don't understand a thing
This is my concern
This is our concern
But there you go, I have a solution
Wealth doesn't come without effort
We first struggle and,
Almighty then helps
If you want to be a leader
Expect suffering

In the 1980s, Abidjan’s Jess Sah Bi & Peter One became one of the most popular musical acts in not just the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), but broader West Africa, eventually performing with a full band to stadium-sized audiences at home and throughout Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo. Although they’d been popular radio and television performers for several years prior, the catalyst for Jess and Peter achieving this new level of stardom was their debut album, Our Garden Needs Its Flowers, recorded and released in 1985.

In contrast with the heaving funk, disco and reggae sounds of the day, Our Garden Needs Its Flowers was a lush fusion of traditional Ivorian village songs and American and English country and folk-rock music. Jess and Peter sang in French, English and Gouro, delivering beautifully harmonized meditations on social injustice and inequality, calls for unity across the African continent, an end to apartheid in South Africa and the odd song for the ladies, all set against lush guitar riffs, rustic harmonica and rollicking feel-good rhythms. Surprisingly, it’s the first time the album has been re-released in a high-fidelity, legally-licensed form.

Jess and Peter had shared experiences of loving and drawing inspiration from the traditional and ceremonial songs they remembered their mothers singing in their respective hometowns of Barata and Ono. In addition, hearing imported country and folk-rock music over the radio in the early ‘70s was a lightbulb moment for both of them. Jess recalls DJs playing Kenny Rogers, Don Williams and Dolly Parton on the radio in the morning, while Peter notes the significant presence Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Creedence Clearwater Revival had in his listening life. Country music and folk-rock weren’t very popular with the general public. But interest was bubbling up within the growing student population, who connected with the protest sentiments expressed by many English and American artists of the era and loved the sound as well.

“It’s very nice music, with very nice harmonies, and it’s different from what you hear every day,” Peter says. “The language was a big barrier though. You had to learn English to understand the songs, and the students were the ones learning English.” Having access to education along with their awareness of growing social and political inequality and injustice made students the perfect audience for folk music in Ivory Coast.