🎤🇬🇵🎵🤔🎥 The man was controversial, to say the least, and was the talk of the town. In fact, that was one of his aims. Born in Basse-Terre, Ibo Simon lived for a time in France, where he spent some time in hospital. Back in Guadeloupe, he devoted himself to music and in 1979 released his first album, Doubout, on which reggae blends with gwoka. He was joined on the ka drum by Jean-Pierre Jerco from Eric Cosaque’s Voltages 8, who also sat behind the mixing console. Ibo Simon’s interminable – and daily – monologues and harangues on Canal 10 are still remembered, but his provocative theses eventually cost him the airwaves. His subsequent political ‘career’ was scarcely more consensual or successful. So should we separate the politician from the artist? I’ll leave it to you to judge, but in many ways, this man has left his mark on the recent history of Guadeloupe.
Doubout – Ibo Simon, 1979
