Musical Break - Tiken Jah Fakoly

Tiken Jah Fakoly is a reggae artist from Côte d'Ivoire. His music often deals with issues of social justice and the numerous problems facing not only his home country, but Africa as a whole. I actually discovered his music in, believe it or not, my French textbook. I was impressed with the lyrics I was reading and decided to look him up later that day. So I did, and I really liked what I heard.

Here's a video for one of his songs, the one I read in my textbook - Y'en a marre





And here are the lyrics (with a translation):

On en a marre - We're fed up
L'Afrique en a marre marre marre - Africa's sick, sick, sick of it
On en a marre - We're sick of it
Le peuple en a marre marre marre - The people are sick, sick, sick of it

Des journalistes assassinés - Assassinated journalists
Parce que des présidents assassins - Because of assassin-presidents
Des généraux aux commandes - Generals in power
Des populations opprimées - Oppressed populations
Des aides aux pays détournées - Aid to the countries diverted
Des populations affamées - Starving populations
Les fonds du pays dilapidées - The countries' funds squandered
Les droits de l'homme ignorés- Human rights ignored

{au Refrain}- Chorus

Après l'abolition de l'esclavage - After the abolition of slavery
Ils ont crée la colonisation - They made up colonization
Lorsque l'on a trouvé la solution - When we found the solution
Ils ont crée la coopération - They created cooperation
Comme on dénonce cette situation - As we denounce this situation
Ils ont crée la mondialisation - They've created globalization
Et sans expliquer la mondialisation - And without explaining globalization
C'est Babylone qui nous exploite - It's Babylon that exploits us

{au Refrain} - Chorus

Yaniss Odua :
Faut qu'on arrete de cautionner - We must stop giving support to
Ca, la vie de nos frères ne compte pas pour cette bande de vanpayas - that, our brothers' lives mean nothing to this band of vampires
Stoppons les guerres gardons la foi - Let's stop the wars, let's keep the faith
Faya sur tous les chefs d'Etat qui nous envoient tuer nos brothers - Fire on all the heads of states who send us to kill our brothers
Ils ne nous respectent pas c'est la même chose pour leurs lois - They don't respect us, the same for their laws
Ils ne regardent même pas quand le peuple réclame ses droits - They don't even look when the people assert their rights.
Ils ne partagent surtout pas l'argent c'est pas qu' y en a pas - They especially don't share the money, it's not that there's none of it.
Ils ne font rien pour nos sisters qui se vendent pour vivre dans ce monde-là - They do nothing for our sisters who sell themselves to live in this world.

{au Refrain}- Chorus

Des présidents assassins - Assassin-Presidents,
On veut plus - We don't want (them) anymore
Des généraux aux commandes - Generals in power
On en veut plus - We don't want them anymore
Des enfants militaires - Child soldiers
On veut plus - We don't want them anymore
Des orphelins de guerre - Orphans of war
On n'en veut plus - We don't want them anymore

{au Refrain}- Chorus

L'Afrique en a marre - Africa's sick of it
De toutes ces machinations - Of all these machinations
Mon peuple en a marre - My people are sick of it
De toutes ces manipulations - Of all these manipulations
L'Afrique en a marre - Africa is sick of it
De toutes ces exploitations - Of all this exploitation
Mon peuple en a marre - My people are sick of it
De toute cette oppression - Of all this oppression
L'Afrique en a marre- Africa is sick of it

Hope you enjoyed it. You can find more at Tiken Jah Fakoly's official website.