Coupe-Decale

Coupe-decale was made by young Ivorians in Parisian nightclubs and exported home. Its central figure is Douk Saga, born Stephane Hamidou Doukoure, 22 May 1974 to 12 October 2006, who with the crew known as La Jet Set built the style around 2002 at clubs including the Atlantis, pairing Congolese-derived guitar instrumentals with Ivorian vocals and a performance of extravagant spending. The name comes from Nouchi, Abidjan's street argot, and translates roughly as to cheat someone and clear off; Douk Saga's 'Sagacite' was its anthem and his 'Afuka Fuka' hand gesture one of its earliest signatures. It arrived in Cote d'Ivoire as the country entered civil conflict in 2002 and functioned openly as escapism, with parties standing in for war. The dance is upper-body-forward and gestural: shoulders drive, elbows and wrists articulate, the feet stay small and quick, and each new record arrives with its own named step demonstrated in the video. DJ Arafat, born Ange Didier Houon, 26 January 1986 to 12 August 2019, became the genre's dominant star, called its king by the BBC, with tracks including 'Kpangor', 'Jonathan', '202' and 'Moto Moto'. He died after a motorcycle crash in Abidjan.