On September 24, 2022, Ibo Georges Simon aka Waka Danaka passed away in the town of Les Abymes, at the age of 82. The death of this controversial figure, who left no one indifferent, shocked thousands of people. Thousands of people attended his wake in Place de la Victoire in Pointe-à-Pitre.
The man had been Guadeloupe’s first Rasta, a successful singer, a musician, a popular TV and radio host, a lover of the Creole language, but also a politician with theories defending Guadeloupe first classified as extreme right.
A year after the death of this celebrity, his memory remains intact for his fans called the “Ibobiens”. At the Basse-Terre cemetery, the pale pink or old pink family vault, where he rests notably alongside his mother, is located high up. We imagine that the curious and lively man Ibo Simon was before his illness, now appreciates this location from which he can see everything that is happening around.
According to a municipal agent who works at the cemetery, people regularly ask where Ibo Simon’s grave is, but last year, All Saints’ Day was the time when many “Ibobiens” from all over Guadeloupe came to pay him tribute.
This Sunday, September 24, 2023, which marks the first anniversary of his death, they will also be present, despite the heavy rain and thunderstorms that are already falling on the archipelago.
One year after Ibo Simon’s death, many still quote the expressions of the artist, the man of the street; radio and TV hosts continue to imitate his voice, his favorite themes (such as the “education” of the Guadeloupean people), his laughter and his gestures for example, but they remain a pale copy of the original…
