Jess Sah Bi—Ile De Gorée

Jess Sah Bi's long lost solo album of praise music. #africangospel #cotedivoire
Stream or Preorder the tape: https://lnk.to/JessSahBi
Available worldwide on all digital platforms 18 April, 2025

Jess Sah Bi & Peter One "Our Garden Needs Its Flowers" was a revelation to many folks outside West Africa when it was reissued worldwide a few years ago. However, the Country-Americana duo from Ivory Coast has been massive since they emerged in the mid-80s, playing stadiums and making a beloved home in peoples' ears across the region for decades. The enormous response from listeners and press around the globe speaks for itself.

Now we are making Jess Sah Bi's beautiful first solo album widely available for the first time. Recorded in South Carolina and released in Ivory Coast in 1991 only on cassette, Jesus-Christ Ne Deçoit Pas [Jesus Christ Never Gives Up] comes out April 18 in restored and remastered audio on digital and tape formats. It is the first in ATFA's new African Devotional Music series.

Jess Sah Bi narrowly survived a brush with death and promised himself and God that he would record an album in praise. While on an exchange visit to South Carolina he arranged to record some new songs and later released the album in Ivory Coast. At the time, locally-produced gospel music wasn't big yet—most of the well-known West African gospel artists hailed from Ghana and Nigeria. But with the success of Jesus-Christ Ne Deçoit Pas, Jess Sah Bi helped kick off a homegrown Ivorian gospel music movement that today thrives in many parts of the country and beyond.

Lyrics:
Souviens-toi de l'ile de Gorée
L'ile des douleurs
où l'Afrique à saigné dans sa peau
De beaux Princes
et fiers Guerriers deracinés
vendus au poids comme du bétail
Debout Afrique l'avenir existe Debout Afrique ton espoir arrive JESUS sera ta plus grande solution dans ce Monde La plus belle pour ce monde
Noirs d'ici et d'ailleurs D'hier et d'aujourd'hui c'est la même souffrance depuis des décenies
Des balles crépitent
Des enfants noirs tombent
In South Africa
In America
Ô Noirs de toutes oppressions
De tous les horizons
ton Amour pour Dieu
vaincra ce Monde
----
Remember Gorée island
Island of sufferance
Where Africa bleed within his skin
Handsome princes proud uprooted warriors
Sold in weight like cattle
Stand up Africa
Your future exists
Stand up Africa
Your hope is here
Jesus will be
Your only great solution in this world
Blacks from everywhere for decades
Your problems are still the same
Get up Africa
Your future exists
Stand up Africa
Your hope is here
Jesus will be your solution
In this world