The Ivorian footballer, Didier Drogba, is all the rage now. Time Magazine named him to its  annual “100 Most Influential People” list, largely because of his role  to end the civil war in Cote d’Ivoire’s civil war.  As Vanity Fair reported in 2007, “A single soccer match achieves what five years of combat and negotiations could not: an apparent end to Ivory Coast’s civil war. The man who brought the warring sides together was not a politician or a gun-toting strongman, but Didier Drogba, the star striker for Ivory Coast.” As a result, Drogba apparently has god-like status in his homeland. So much so that he even spawned a dance and music style: Drogbacite. He even has a beer named after him.  At a recent panel on the 2010 World Cup I hosted at The New School that view of Drogba’s influence basically held. Not so quick says Siddhartha Mitter, journalist and music critic, who is eminently qualified on matters Ivorian.  The post is worth reading just for the valuable music education.