MFWA reports that the musicians are being victimised because their music appears to be critical of the administration of President Gbagbo.
(MFWA/IFEX) – Some musicians in Côte d’Ivoire are unhappy with the country’s national television station, Radio Television Ivoirienne (RTI), saying that the station has refused to broadcast their music.
On 22 May 2010, the pro-opposition “L’Expression”, newspaper cited two of the affected musicians, Fadal Dey and Lago Paulin, whose music RTI’s management claimed was “subversive” to the state.
However, the Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that the musicians are being victimised because their music appears to be critical of the administration of President Gbagbo.
In his latest album “Mea Culpa”, Fadal Dey, a reggae star, asked the late Félix Houphouet-Boigny, the country’s first president, to forgive him for calling him a “thief” when President Gbagbo was in opposition. At the time he (Gbagbo) encouraged many young people to call the first president a “thief”. Fadal Dey said that under the present circumstances things were not that different, and that therefore, Houphouet-Boigny should pardon him.
In his album “We are tired”, Lago Paulin condemned what he described as an “excessive increase in the prices of goods” and stated that “human rights and social security do not exist” in the country.
MFWA’s correspondent said that by contrast, the music of pro-government artists, particularly those who call themselves “patriots”, is broadcast widely.
