A native of Côte d’Ivoire, Dobet Gnahoré embraced music at an early age, courtesy of her father, master percussionist Boni Gnahoré, who trained her in multiple art forms and no doubt influenced her compelling style and stage presence. In her youth, Dobet toured Africa extensively with her father as a singer, dancer, and actor in the Abidjan-based troupe Ki-Yi Mbock – but fled to Marseille, France in 1999 after a military coup led to civil unrest and then war. After 15 years in Europe, Dobet’s music has transformed into a fusion of Western and African elements, enabling her to garner fans worldwide. Though she’s toured the U.S. on several occasions (most recently in January 2015), she likely first came to the attention of American audiences in 2010 after winning a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance with India.Arie for the song “Pearls” (from the Testimony, Vol 2: Love and Politics album). Like India.Arie, Dobet often takes a feminist stance, writing socially conscious lyrics about the unity of women and women as a uniting force, as well as issues affecting women: giving life, losing life, forbidden love, forced marriage, hope, and the importance of family. Dobet composed the songs for her fourth album, Na Drê, over a four year period while touring worldwide with her band. A true pan-African effort, the album is sung in various languages of her homeland and the diaspora: Bété, Dida, Lingala, Malinké, Haitian Creole, French and English. Band members include her husband Colin Laroche de Féline on guitar, Clive Govinden on bass, and Boris Tchango on drums, with numerous assisting French and African musicians including Boni Ngahoré. After a brief introductory praise song celebrating Allah, God, Buddha, and Lago, Dobet gets to the heart of the album on the title track “Na Drê.” Translated as “My Heart,” she sings (in Bété): “I am so sensitive, I am aware of danger / But I follow him on track, I see you and you fascinate me / O look for you, I follow you, I seek you, but why?”
Following is “Awili,” a song about friendship which incorporates a lilting Congolese styled rumba, and Dobet demonstrates her facility on mbira in the short interlude “Gbaza.” On “Baara” (or “Work”), she encourages Africans “Let’s be ready to build a strong and solid nation / Don’t stand around doing nothing, cultivate, protect our paradise” over a piano and percussion accompaniment. One of the more overtly Western styled songs is the uptempo “Zina,” with a cheerfulness that belies the lyrics centered on abuse: “You take advantage of her softness, she’s the target of your rage.” An album highlight is the penultimate track, “J’ai peur” (“I’m Afraid”), with Dobet lamenting the current state of her country, “People die, people cry in my Africa,” concluding with excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech. Dobet closes with “Botondi,” a song of thanks featuring a horn section grounded by Ivorian world music and jazz fusion drummer Paco Sery, who also picks up the bass and guitar, and even raps in English, building to a powerful finale.