Three Videos Of Cote d'Ivoire's Coupé Décalé Dancing (With Information About Coupé Décalé)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about Cote d'Ivoire's Coupé Décalé music and dance and showcases three videos of Coupé décalé dancing.

Selected comments from the discussion threads of these YouTube videos are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT COUPE DECALE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup%C3%A9-D%C3%A9cal%C3%A9
"Coupé-Décalé is a type of popular dance music originating from Côte d'Ivoire and the Ivorian diaspora in Paris, France. Drawing heavily from Zouglou and Zouk with African influences, Coupé-Décalé is a very percussive style featuring African samples, deep bass, and repetitive minimalist arrangements.

History
While Coupé-Décalé is known as Côte d'Ivoire's definitive pop music, it actually began in Paris, created by a group of Ivorian DJs at the Atlantis, an African nightclub in northeast Paris.[1][2] These Djs, known as the 'Jet Set', became popular for their flamboyant style, often showing up at the club with large amounts of cash which they would hand out to audiences on the dance floor. Their aesthetic defined the early sounds of Coupé Décalé, apparent in the genre's name. In Nouchi (Ivorian slang), Coupé means "to cheat" and Décalé means to "run away", so Coupé-Décalé basically means to cheat somebody and run away.[1] The 'somebody' cheated is generally interpreted to mean France or the West/Europe, finding parallels to the idea of "The Man" in American culture. Especially in the beginning, the songs often celebrated those who had used guile to 'make it' abroad.

The genre's first hit, "Sagacité" was pioneered by the late Stephane Doukouré (a.k.a. "Douk-Saga"), a member of the 'Jet Set', during the post-2002 militaro-political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. The hit became a success in African clubs in Paris and spread quickly among disc jockeys in Côte d'Ivoire. According to Siddhartha Mitter of Afropop,

"[Coupé-Décalé ] has become very popular at a time of conflict; in fact, Ivorian music has really for the first time taken over dance floors all over Africa at exactly the same time that Ivory Coast, the country, has been going through this protracted political and military crisis, with debilitating social and economic effects".

Although arising from this time of political turmoil, Coupé-Décalé lyrically addresses topics such as relationships, earning money and maintaining a good mood or 'bonne ambiance'. Much of its lyrics refer to specific dance moves, often referencing current events such as the avian flu dance[3] or Guantanamo (with hand movements imitating hands raised in chains).[4] These global themes could have helped to make Coupé-Décalé so deeply popular across a politically divided Côte d'Ivoire and spread its influence so far across Africa and the diaspora. Increasingly non-Ivorian artists, particularly in the Congo, are beginning to play and incorporate the musical style."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: coupé-décalé aladji



Boris Jobs Uploaded on Oct 27, 2006

Superbe coupé décalé
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this video's discussion thread. The comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

2014
1. S5TM Upsuh
"1 of my favourite songs!! But the thing that pisses me off is that people dnt know where it's from. Noo it's not Nigerian!!! They speak French in parts of the song! It's from Ivory Coast! Cote D'Ivoire!"

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2. Aubain Adi
"This song is from Cote d'Ivoire dude. singer name Jeff BogoloBango song: Alladji. I enjoyed it the time I was playing DJ in clubs in CIV"

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Reply
3. S5TM Upsuh
"+Aubain Adi I feel sorry that nobody knows that Jeff bogolobango actually made this song but everybody thinks it's this silly ramatoulaye guy"

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4. Galaxy Productions
"I think it's from Ghana or Ivory Coast"

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Reply
5. S5TM Upsuh, 2016
"+Galaxy Productions where do u even get ghana from? they don't even speak twi or any ghana language in this"
-snip-
As "Twi" is a Ghanaian language, this corrected comment is "or any [other] Ghanaian language...

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6. Gissela Moya
"very similar to punta from Honduras:) love it!"

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Reply
7. Carter Curtis, 2016
"Gissela Moya yes"

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8. afro izzy
"This song is in HALL OF FAME"

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9.HammadiLobbongel
"Ca c'est la vrai decale-coupe quoi."
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"That's the real [coupe] decale" [Google translate gives "coupe" as "Cut shifted".
However, note that the Wikipedia page on this music/dance indicates that those two words aren't French but "Nouchi (Ivorian slang). The authors of that page indicate that in Nouchi "Coupé means "to cheat" and Décalé means to "run away", so Coupé-Décalé basically means to cheat somebody and run away. The 'somebody' cheated is generally interpreted to mean France or the West/Europe, finding parallels to the idea of "The Man" in American culture." Some information about Nouchi is given below in the comment section for this pancocojams post.

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10. Tracey Mauricé
"Now this is THE REAL Coupé Decalé."

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2016
11. pour la musique
"c'est pas Dj ramatoulay qui chante ça,c'est plutôt Dj jeff bogolobango.."
-snip-
Google translate from French to English
"It is not Dj ramatoulay who sings this, it is rather Dj jeff bogolobango .."

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12. Eunice Doe
"wow !! wen coupe was the bomb..now it's mostly Naija music now,everything has time.one Love Africa n God bless"
-snip-
"The bomb" = African American Vernacular English with the same meaning as "hot" [very popular; the very best]

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Example #2: Coupé décalé



blakdes Uploaded on Nov 3, 2009

Congolese Coup e decale dancers
-snip-
A number of commenters corrected the summary statement saying that these dancers were Ivorian and not Congolese.

Here are selected comments from this video's discussion thread. The comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

2011
1. Stundtals
"coupe decalé music, kuduro dancing"
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/04/costuleta-tchiriri-kuduro-and-two-other.html for a pancocojams post on Angola's kuduro dancing.

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Reply
2. Efe Bah
"@Stundtals wat is kuduro dancing this is coupe decale dancing or ndombolo"

Ojokernegro5 years ago
It's really different from watching kuduro dancers do their thing (even the beat is different), but when I watched this video I felt the exact same feeling amazement and pride.
This is video is BOSS!! :)

Much love from Angola

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3. DJ Zobe
"damn what is that beat name?"

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Reply
4. kindomofghana
"@Shamoneyxs Its a type of music & dance style, which originated in the Ivory Coast (West Africa). It spread fast to other parts of west & central africa, then to france & belgium through african immigrants & to some parts of the francophone caribbean countries."

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2012
5. murrth
"This dope! Looks great, great vibe, and I love the track too...
Anyone know the title of the song, or some way I can track it down?"

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Reply
6. Frenchy Graham
"the song is couper decaler by zaza twins"

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7. Nathan Nselala4 years ago
that is how we conolase people roll

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8. Patrick Romuald Koffi Alla
"No Yayar101, they r all Ivorians tha live in France I knw some of them"

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9. Lee B
"erm they're IVORIANS NOT CONGOLESE THANKS...."

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Reply
10. Nefritara
"What is the difference? I'm not being a smart ass, just trying to learn."

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Reply
11. Lee B
"The difference is
1. coupe decale is for ivorians not congolese people because ivory coast is where coupe decale comes from
2. the dancers are ivorian not congolese and that's the difference"

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Reply
12. Lee B
"Nah Sorry there isnt 1 single ivorian song in lingala PLS ! why the hell would we want to sing in your language anyways we dance to your music as much as you dance to ours but to say that couper decaler sing in lingala thats not true at all theres nothing wrong with congolese liking our music cause we love their music too the dancers are ivorian because my cousin knows them only one of the boy is congolese the rest of then even the girls are from ivory coast (:"

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Example #3: [COUPE DECALE 2011] OUDY 1ER-ADOKAFLE Yougou Yougou



MrVINCENZO225, Uploaded on Aug 30, 2011
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this video's discussion thread. The comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

2011
1. Destiney Lion
"they kilt it!!"
-snip-
"Kilt it: (killed it) is a African American Vernacular English phrase meaning "[doing something] exceptionally well".

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2. goldennella
"@marza1134 etant congolaise, je trouve que les ivorienne danse bien ausi maintenant avant je trouvai que c'etait juste nous!!"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"Marza1134 being Congolese, I think the Ivorian dance well before now I found it was just us !!"
-snip-
My translation of that comment into standard English:
"Marza1134 being Congolese, I think the Ivorian dance well. Before this [before i saw this] I thought it was just us [Congolese who danced well]!


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2012
[The following comment was written in response to some commenters bickering about which African nation is culturally the best.]

3. Ineka Gbê
"Héé vraiment les commentaires me font rire quoi! "C'est des pas congolais!", "Ivoirien a copier" "Non c'est des pas ivoiriens" (en gros se sont des commentaires de ce genre)et bla bla bla! Avec tous ça là comment l'Afrique va avancé! Ivoirien ô, Congolais ô, c'est pas la même Afrique là?? Vraiment yako pour l'Afrique hein! Quand est-ce qu'on va avancer franchement et apprécier nos richesses culturelles (musique, danse etc) sans se diviser??

Bref bravo les filles! vous gérer!
-snip-
Google translate from French to English
"Hey really comments make me laugh what! "It's Congolese steps!", "Ivorian to copy" "No it's Ivorian steps" (basically have comments like this) and blah blah blah! With all this there how Africa is advanced! Ivorian ô, Congolais ô, it is not the same Africa there ?? Really yako for Africa eh! When will we go forward frankly and appreciate our cultural richness (music, dance etc) without dividing ??

Short bravo the girls! You manage!"
-snip-
"Short bravo the girls! You manage" is probably something like "In brief, Bravo (Congratulations) girls. You rock!"

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[Here's a similar comment in 2013 from that same commenter]:

4. Ineka Gbê
"En quoi dire que les africains doivent s'unir et apprécier les richesses culturelles multiples et diverses de chacun (mais qui sont aussi souvent les mêmes) et donc se respecter pour pouvoir mieux avancer ensemble, est "nul"?"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"How can we say that Africans must unite and appreciate the multiple and diverse cultural riches of each individual (but who are often the same) and thus respect each other in order to be able to advance together, is "null"?
-snip-
My suggested translation: instead of "is null" = "is nothing"

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2013
5. Efe Bah
"The artist and the dancers are from Guinea thou...but u are right they are doing coupe decale which the ivory coast is known for"

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6. Shantal Joy
"These galz are fire!!!"

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7. Angel Devine
"Im Ghanaian but I've got to admit, if it wasn't for azonto we wouldn't have anything on you Ivorians when it comes to dancing! Smh"

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8. 11rainyday
"good dancing. i LOVE their swagg."
-snip-
"Swagg"- an African American Vernacular English term that is a clip of the word "swagger", meaning their self-confidence and their "style" (their "hipness")

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9.Thunder cocolove
"I do not know why the congolai are always jealous of Ivorian ...."

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2014
10. Gedheon
"et les américains découvrent le Twerk ^^'
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"And the Americans discover the Twerk ^^ "

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