He “lives in a tent, isolated, in the middle of the Bois de Vincennes” after having filled the stadiums in Africa, and the Parisian halls with music lovers. At 60 years old, Jah Prince, real name Prince Saint Florent Serry, pioneer of Afrika Reggae, is now homeless. Our colleagues from Parisian went to meet him, and report the story of this musician who underwent many trials.
In prison from 2013 to 2014
The story begins in the early 2000s, with the release of his album “Prisoners of Babylon” which got him into trouble with the government of Ivory Coast. At the time, Jah Prince then had a comfortable life, “a beautiful house with land on the edge of the lagoon near Abidjan” our colleagues explain. And everything changes. Because he is anti-establishment, he says.Several times the army came to my estate to intimidate me, they scared my butlers, and in 2013, without a warrant from any judge, they entered my house and put me in prison for consumption grass”he remembers.
It was only in 2014, and following the intervention of the French government, that Jah Prince was released, since he is a French Ivorian. He arrives in France and hopes to bounce back, by performing a series of concerts and recording a new album, but unfortunately, the equipment he stores in his tent in the Bois de Vincennes is stolen and set on fire. For several months, if he remains positive, he hopes “a helping hand from France”. First and foremost for the dispossession of which he says he was a victim, in Ivory Coast.
“I lost everything, including my land and my house”
On a daily basis, he says: “I lost everything, including my land and my house. Since then, I have survived […] I’m not a bandit, I didn’t deserve this”. And to add: “I don’t blame anyone, but I still hope to be able to recover my property, I was robbed by the government of Côte d’Ivoire”.
In France, if he lives today in the Bois de Vincennes, it is because Jah Prince is “an artist”. And to explain: “I need a little space to create, I can’t go to a social home where I don’t know how many of us would share a room.”
F.A.