ALLAH THERESE & N'GORAN LA LOI - Beautiful Baoule melodies from the Cote D'Ivoire

Allah Therese and her husband N'Goran la Loi are living legends of Baoulé music.  The Baoulé, an Akan people with historical roots in Ghana, are one of the Cote D'Ivoire's three largest ethnic groups (with the Bété and Senoufo).  Allah Therese was born in 1935 in the village of Gbofia, in south-central Cote D'Ivoire, the heart of Baoulé land.  Her husband was born Béhibro N'Goran in the village of Konankokorekro, located twenty kilometers away from the regional hub of Toumodi. The couple met over fifty years ago at a funeral ceremony and have been performing together for the last forty years.

The heyday of their career were the prosperous days of Felix Houphouët-Boigny's long reign.  Proud of his Baoulé heritage, Houphouët-Boigny would invite the couple to perform whenever he hosted foreign dignitaries and visiting heads of state.  Allah Therese and N'Goran la Loi released their first single in 1956 and in August 2017 were back in an Abidjan studio working on a new release.  At 82 years of age Allah Therese continues to perform.

Allah Thérèse

This beautiful video was shot in Allah Therese's home village of Gbofia back in 2001, during the Paquinou celebrations, the Easter celebrations that are a highpoint of the Baoulé calendar.

Thank you to Barnabé for posting the picture of Allah Therese and N'Goran la Loi.