Francis Mercier and Magic System members, including lead singer A’salfo in an orange Ivory Coast jersey, posing together. Photo Credit: Magic System/Instagram
Do you remember that song from the late 90s that had absolutely everyone on their feet — children, adults, grandparents — dancing like their lives depended on it? Nobody fully understood the lyrics, but that melody did not care. “Premier Gaou” by Magic System was that song, and it has just gone Platinum in France.
And not just the original. The 2023 Afro-house remix by Haitian DJ and producer Francis Mercier and Nitefreak is the version that earned the plaque, and the celebration that followed is the kind of video you watch twice just to feel something good.
Francis Mercier shared the moment on social media — him and the members of Magic System, standing in the streets of Paris, holding the commemorative platinum plaque and singing “Premier Gaou” at full volume with zero apologies. They are laughing, swaying, pointing at the plaque mid-lyric, and the call-and-response between Mercier and the Magic System members is pure Zouglou spirit from start to finish, punctuated with shouts of “Affaire à suivre!” — to be continued.
Ivorian music group Magic System (A’salfo, Goudé, Tino, and Manadja) posing together. Photo Credit: Magic System/Instagram
The lyrics they are belting out are as iconic as ever. “C’est dans ma galère que la go Antou m’a quitté, oh ah” — it was during my struggles that my girl Antou left me. And then the one line that has lived in the hearts of an entire generation: “Premier gaou n’est pas gaou oh, c’est deuxième gaou qui est gnata oh” — the first fool is not really a fool; it is the one who gets fooled a second time who is a real idiot.
Magic System first released “Premier Gaou” in 1999, and twenty-six years later the song is still finding new audiences, new charts and new milestones. Francis Mercier and Nitefreak gave it a new life in 2023, and that life has now gone Platinum in France.
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