Ernesto Djédjé

The Ivory Coast's premier musical export of the 1970s, Ernesto Djédjé is widely credited as the creator of his homeland's first truly distinctive national music, fusing international sounds and styles with the rhumba rhythms of the Congo to introduce what is now known as ziglibithy. Born in 1948 in Tahiraguhé, Djédjé began playing guitar at age 15 and was soon invited to join Amédée's Ivoiro Star, one of the most popular regional bands of its era. He was serving as its orchestra director by the time he left in 1967 to attend university in Paris. There he continued playing musi...