Home› Africa›West Africa›Côte d'Ivoire
Music of Côte d'Ivoire
Home of the griot/jeli tradition, the kora and balafon, Afrobeat, Highlife, Mbalax and the desert blues of the Sahel.
Sung and searched in French. The YouTube button above can run your search in that language.
Roots and traditions
National music
Ivory Coast's national anthem is L'Abidjanaise. French is the official language taught and spoken by Ivorians but many Ivorians have their own ethnic tribal language. There are many music genres in Ivory Coast, music from different tribes Coupé-Decalé, Zouglou, Pop, Arabic musics etc. Ivory Coast have different varieties of music based on the population race living there.
Popular music
Popular music
Gbégbé, a Bété rhythm, has been a part of popular music since Ivory Coast's independence, popularized by Soeurs Comöé and later, Frères Djatys and Sery Simplice. Ernesto Djédjé, however, is considered the father of Ivorian popular music. Using one of the folk rhythms of the Bété, as well as his teacher Amédée Pierre's dopé style, Djédjé has long been an advocate of Ivorian music, railing against the "Congolization" of the Abidjan scene. Outside of Ivory Coast, Djédjé is best known for 1977's Gnoantre-Ziboté, which was a Pan-African hit, and found some success in France and Canada. He plays a type of music called ziglibithy. Since Djédjé, few Ivorian musicians have been able to achieve the same level of fame. Luckson Padaud's laba laba style, which is similar to the Bété ziglibithy, has had some success, as has Gnaore Djimi's polihet.
Read the full article: Music of Ivory Coast Text under CC BY-SA 4.0
Playing now
What Côte d'Ivoire is listening to in 2026
Articles
No articles for Côte d'Ivoire yet. Save a Markdown file to content/articles/ with
country: Côte d'Ivoire in its front matter.
Live radio
Radio from Côte d'Ivoire
Music only, no news or talk. Stations that play the local tradition come first, then the most listened. They play in the corner of the page.
Station directory by Radio Browser Streams come from each station's own server.