In the urban landscape of Côte d'Ivoire, where modern rhythms and traditional sounds collide, popular music is more than just entertainment. It is a vital force for social and political expression. In "There are no crocodiles in Cocody," Aghi Bahi dives into the history, poetics, and societal impact of Ivorian popular music, from the colonial-era sounds of highlife and rumba to the contemporary phenomena of Zouglou and Coupé décalé. Bahi's compelling analysis, born from an "amphibian" research approach, navigates the complex relationships between local and global influences, urban and rural life, and popular art and political power. He explores how artists act as "popular intellectuals", using their craft to critique, mobilise, and engage in a dialogue about the nation's most pressing issues. From candid interviews with musicians to the lyrical analysis of protest songs, this book uncovers a world where a song can be a powerful tool for social change, a mirror reflecting a society in flux, and a collective memory that both preserves the past and shapes a hopeful future. This book is an invitation to listen closely to the rhythms of everyday life in Côte d'Ivoire and discover how popular music, like the cunning crocodile of local lore, adapts, survives, and defiantly gives voice to a nation's story.
"You have to know all the adventures of the musical activity ... Someone has to put the right words in it, in full, with all aspects of music. Our emotions - pleasant or stinging - will be multiplied, because we will be able to see, hear, appreciate, choose, reject, worship or hate in full knowledge of popular musical intellectuality. It takes no less than five chapters and almost 400 pages for Aghi Bahi to tell us." Jean-Pierre Warnier is Emeritus Professor at the University of Paris-Descartes, Sorbonne "Throughout his text, Aghi Bahi shows how the anthropology of communication builds bridges between these two professional worlds, or rather between these two epistemic communities. And how these bridges are invitations for one to come and work with the other. Few specialists in Information and Communication Sciences dare to work in the field of music as a form of communicative performance. It is as if Aghi Bahi was saying to them: come on, there's room for everyone." Yves Winkin is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Communication, University of Liège, Belgium
