Professeur

Meiway is an established superstar of the Ivory Coast, with over 20 years recording experience. He is credited with creating his own musical style, known as zoblazo, which is based on the traditional rhythms from his home area around the city of Grand-Bassam. Professeur is an album of high-energy synthesizer-led African pop music. Sung in local dialect mixed with French it is inevitably of tremendous appeal to the Ivorian audience. Rhythmically it borrows much from Congolese music, but sadly lacks the presence of notable guitar work and rumba-style vocal harmonies. Musical devices such as spoken call-outs to sponsors and influential friends call to mind Congo vocal maestro Koffi Olomide with whom Meiway bears some physical resemblance. He also has a similar penchant for stylish but overtly ostentatious sartorial elegance. Though Meiway’s voice and music is nowhere near as attractive as that of Olomide.

In addition to the jaunty synthesizer pop of his zoblazo tunes are some passable ballads. ‘Assetou’ leans toward a Malinke style musically with the same sort of intensity as a Salif Keita recording – but unfortunately without Salif’s vocal beauty. ‘Pepe Soupe’ is a pleasant enough Afro-salsa, and ‘Couvre-Feu’ is the inevitable Afro hip-hop crossover and features rapper Black Kent. The rest is up-beat, danceable and largely inoffensive. However without the benefit of understanding the lyrical nuances it is all too easy to dismiss this as merely formulaic Afro-pop. Ultimately it is musically a little inconsequential.