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(Photo Courtesy of Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Antoinette Konan, Vanguard of Ivorian Music, Gets a Comeback

The singer and percussionist is getting a reissue via Awesome Tapes from Africa.

Prepare your ears and ready the dance floor for the return of the "Queen of the Ahoko." Awesome Tapes from Africa (ATFA) is reissuing the queen Antoinette Konan's eponymous 1986 album in the coming weeks. For music aficionados, crate diggers and those new to Konan's music alike—this is excellent news.

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Fans pay tribute to DJ Arafat at the site of his motorcycle accident in Abidjan. Photo: ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images

Hommage to DJ Arafat, the King of Coupé-Décalé

Celebrating the late Ivorian artist who helped birth francophone Africa's urban music scene.

News of DJ Arafat's death broke the morning of Monday, August 12th.

DJ Arafat was the ambassador of a music form popularized in Cote D'Ivoire but exported worldwide. Long before azonto, Nigerian music's command of air waves and the blanket term "afrobeats," he commanded Coupé-Décalé's fast percussion, vocals and dances. He gave birth to Francophone Africa's urban music scene.

A nation mourned. Europeans mourned. Africans worldwide mourned. Abidjan, his home, is said to have been cloudy all day.

Condolences poured out from far and wide: Ivorian Culture Minister, Maurice Kouakou Bandaman, President Alassane Ouattara, footballers Samuel Eto'o and Didier Drogba, musicians Burna Boy, Davido, Iyanya, MHD from a prison cell, Salatiel, Magic System's A'salfo, Serge Beynaud, DJ Mix Premier, his protégés Ariel Sheney and the group Kiff No Beat to name a few.

Fans cried and screamed in front of the hospital his body lay as well as his home. They chanted, "Il n'est pas mort" ("he isn't dead"). The King of Coupé-Décalé was gone.

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